All The Colors In Between
by Kira Loves
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha is an intern worker at an asylum but the arrival of a new patient marks the beginning of a strange chain events both in Sasuke and outside of him. More in depth inside
1. A Welcome to be Watched

**Summary: Sasuke Uchiha is an intern at Konoha Asylum but not everything is quite right within its white walls. Sasuke must deal with unstable patients and annoying orderlies on a day to day basis as well as a creepy voiced warden that he's never seen. The arrival of new patient, Naruto Uzumaki, sends the once unfeeling Sasuke into an emotional journey which begins to tear his world apart. Literally.**

**Warning! This fanfic will most likley include the following:**

**Homosexuality**

**Sexual content**

**Violent sexual content**

**Violence**

**Harsh Language**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters associated with the anime. If I did, your childhood would have changed- actually, it's Naruto. I probably wouldn't have changed too much. **

**A/N: I will say first and foremost that this is not the usual sexy sex time story. Nor is this a cute and fluffy story (but it will have it's moments because- hey, I'm writing it). However, I'm excited to be writing a new type of tale and I really hope ya'll will stick with me through the journey. :)**

Everything in the asylum was white, not off-white or cream but white. Everything was clean too. Clean, white tiles and rubber everywhere. It was an eyesore to behold. Sasuke detested every minute of his internship at that dreaded place.

_'White represents purity. Makes it easier to see the stains and dirt of ourselves. Cleaniness is close to Godliness'_ Sasuke recalled the warden saying once.

Sasuke had never actually seen the warden and judging by the man's voice, he didn't want to. There was something off about it. The way the words slithered into his ear. When Sasuke spoke with him, he felt as if the warden would emerge from the shadows at any moment, waiting behind him and whispering in his ear.

Sasuke sighed as he sipped at his coffee. The room, even with Sasuke in it was black and white. The coffe was black, like his hair and eyes but everything else was white, from his uniform to the coffee mug to his pale skin. There wasn't a trace of real color anywhere even in the staff break room.

_'White is the color of heaven. I want every lost soul we bring in to feel like they're in a better place.'_ Sasuke recalled the warden saying.

_Heavenly isn't how I would describe it._ Sasuke argued to himself.

A struggle was heard in the distance. There were low voices, recognizable ones. Two attendants, Choji and Shikamaru. Misarble human beings and awful workers. They moved patients about with little care or concern. A third voice denoted just how careless and crude they were. It was high and raspy as it screamed and cried out.

Sasuke waited for them, watching the hallway. He leaned against the doorframe and took another sip of his bitter, black coffee.

"Let go!" the mystery voice cried out, "Stop it! Let go!"

Sasuke, wanting to examine the new comer, leaned out enough to peek into the hallway. Sure enough, Choji and Shikamaru were dragging in a patient. The two attendants were pretty regular sights. Choji was a large young man who's only care in the world was the fufillment of his endless gluttony. Shikamaru on the other hand, was tall and thin man who cared for nothing at all.

The patient was a tan, small young man, not much younger than Sasuke. He had dirty, messy blonde hair. He struggled in Choji's and Shikamaru's grip, throwing himself from side to side and yowling in pain. His hands looked as if they were turning purple. Sasuke sighed, the two employees thought they'd take the easy way out again and not strap the patient down and drug him. Sasuke went into the hallway.

"You're making him lose circulation," he pointed out calmly above the chaos.

The three men paused momentarily. Choji glared at Sasuke while Shikamaru rolled his eyes. The patient still tugged away from his opressors but to no avail.

"If you're so concerned," Shikamaru stated, "Then you take him."

Choji grinned and, using his weight, threw the patient at Sasuke. The blonde boy smacked in him and Sasuke caught him. The force made him teeter but he refused to be knocked down by the behemoth's throw.

"He needs a bath!" Choji snorted, "And a uniform!"

"What room is he going to?" Sasuke asked as the blonde boy stared at him.

Shikamaru shrugged as he and Choji turned to leave.

"Whatever's free," he called over his shoulder, "Name's Naruto Uzumaki."

Sasuke sighed as Choji whispered something to Shikamaru and then bursted into hearty laughter. Shikamaru didn't so much as chuckle but Sasuke knew the smart ass had a smirk on his face. He was happy that their smug mugs were leaving but irritated that he was now stuck with a strange little blonde ball of crazy.

Sasuke looked down at his new responsibility. The patient stared back at him with big, bright blue eyes. Sasuke had him by the wrists. The boy's fingers were relaxed and spread. The color was returning to them rapidly.

"Uzumaki is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, sir," Naruto replied.

He didn't seem crazy to Sasuke. Then again, the warden himself said that insanity was often deceitful. Sasuke peered into Naruto's bright blues, trying to find a trance of sanity. The boy gave him a look that was almost starstruck. He seemed fascinated with Sasuke like a girl in a romance movie.

"Are you going to come along quietly?" Sasuke asked, "I'd rather not force you."

"Oh!" the boy said, snapping out of his awe, "Quietly! Of course, sir."

Sasuke gave a nod and then released the boy's wrists. Sasuke turned around and started walking forward. Naruto followed after a few paces behind. Sasuke's shoes tapped lightly against the echoing floor while Naruto's bare feet made near silent padding sounds. Sasuke glanced at them over his shoulder.

"Not a fan of shoes, Uzumaki?" Sasuke sneered.

Naruto looked up from the floor. He smiled brightly.

"Nothing like the feel of the dirt, sir!" he answered.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him before turning away.

"There isn't any dirt here," Sasuke pointed out.

"I just meant the earth," Naruto replied, "Like the floor. Dirt."

Sasuke ignored him as they continued towards the decontamination room. Naruto said nothing but began merrily humming a song.

_Five minutes ago, he was throwing himself into the walls trying to escape and now he's humming? What is with this kid?_

Sasuke led Naruto to the decontamination room. It was a large room that resembled the showers in a locker room. However, there were three or four stalls that had a chair bolted to the ground. It was used to strap down patients in case they were unwilling to cooperate with bathing. Sasuke remembered them using one once. It was a long time ago. It was a patient who looked strikingly feminine with long, black hair and big dark brown eyes. One would call him beautiful, were that appropriate to call a man. They dragged him inside, kicking and screaming. They'd dragged him in by his hair. They stripped him of his clothes revealing a feminine body. Sasuke never saw the patient's genetalia in the scuffle. For all he'd seen, it might as well have been a woman. They did keep female patients there. The patient certainly screamed like one. That's how they bathed the sad creature, strapped to a chair having water sprayed at it and gargling and crying out like it was drowning. Haku had been the patient's name. Poor thing never resisted after that, just sat there, doe eyed and mute as they bathed him.

"Sir?" Naruto asked cautiously.

Sasuke snapped out of his flashback and turned back to his present patient.

"Take off your clothes," Sasuke commanded.

Naruto looked down at himself before looking back at Sasuke.

"Excuse me?" he squeaked.

"It's protocol, Uzumaki," Sasuke informed him, "Every new arrival needs to be showered, uniformed, and vaccinated."

"Vaccinated?"

"Not one for needles?" Sasuke asked, "Don't worry, I'm not authorized to adminster any drugs. The nurse for that left for the night. So just clean yourself up and we'll get you a uniform."

Naruto looked at Sasuke with a blank expression. Sasuke potrayed no emotion as he waited for the boy to undress. A minute passed.

"Well?" Sasuke asked, irritated.

Naruto's hands flew up in a frenzy.

"Well what!" he shouted, "You plan on watching or something? I like my privacy, sir!"

Sasuke sighed. Working here didn't have any advantages...unless you were a gay germaphobe.

"I can't," Sasuke replied, "Policy dictates that I supervise."

"That's perverted policy," Naruto pointed out.

Sasuke shrugged and Naruto frowned angrily before turning his back on Sasuke.

"We haven't got all night, Uzumaki," Sasuke urged.

There was a beat of silence before Naruto's shoulders slumped foward, his posture collapsing.

"Yes, sir," Naruto said, defeated.

Naruto began to pull off his shirt, revealing a flawless and tanned back. He was a slender boy, little dimples marking his back. Sasuke suddenly felt awkward as the other boy dropped his pants. The tan was natural. Either that or the patient was in the habit of nude sun bathing. Sasuke looked at the patches of dirt on the boy's body.

_He doesn't seem to be in the habit of any kind of bathing..._

"I'll take your clothes," Sasuke said, masking how awkward he felt.

Sasuke looked away briefly as Naruto bent over to retrieve his outift. When Sasuke returned the glance, the patient was inching towards him backwards.

"For God's sake, Uzumaki," Sasuke sighed, "I'm not a pervert, just turn around and hand me your clothes."

Naruto did as he was told. His bright blues were downcast as he handed Sasuke his clothing. Sasuke, without meaning to, glanced at the boy's penis. It seemed aptly sized and the pubic area was covered with a patch of dark blonde. Sasuke then quickly looked at the boy's wad of clothes, embarrassed at catching himself in the act.

Naruto walked to the nearest shower stall, his face stark red from shame. He felt so exposed as he turned the shower head on. Sasuke felt equally uncomfortable as he watched the water shower down on the other boy.

_To hell with policy._

"I'll go get you a towel and uniform," Sasuke said, excusing himself.

Sasuke exited the decontamination room, locking it behind him. The last thing he needed was to chase down a naked patient. The warden would not be pleased with that. Or would he? Despite never seeing him, Sasuke was certain that the warden was a sinister man from his voice alone.

Sasuke returned, uniform in one arm and towel in another. As he returned to the room, he heard Naruto humming again. It was a song Sasuke thought was familiar but couldn't pin it. He listened closely and quietly took steps towards the shower stalls. Naruto was starting to sing but too quietly to make out the words.

Naruto turned around and jumped, suprised by Sasuke's sudden presence.

"You scared me, sir!" Naruto remarked, pulling himself together.

Sasuke, embarrassed at being caught and once again glacing at the patient's penis, forced his eyes to stare at the uniform.

"Are you almost done?" Sasuke asked, frustrated.

"Yes, sir," Naruto asnwered before quickly rinsing off his suds.

Naruto approached Sasuke, slowly getting comfortable with his nudity. Sasuke didn't make eye contact as he handed his patient the towel.

"You don't have to keep calling me sir," Sasuke broke the silence.

Naruto seemed to not have heard him, too absorbed in drying himself off.

"Clothes please, sir" Naruto asked.

"I just said that you don't have to call me that," Sasuke repeated, glaring at Naruto.

Naruto's big blues blinked at him innocently as he took the uniform Sasuke handed to him.

"I'm sorry," Naruto apologized, "But I don't know what else to call you."

"My name is Sasuke," he replied, "Sasuke Uchiha."

"Uchiha," Naruto sounded out, "Mr. Uchiha!"

"Just call me Sasuke," Sasuke said, annoyed, "I'm not so old as to be called Mr. Uchiha yet."

"Sasuke," Naruto said with a smile,now fully dressed.

Sasuke looked Naruto over in the uniform. The patient's uniform was a white jumpsuit and black boots.

"We look alike!" Naruto stated happily.

It was true. The staff uniform was also white, made of the same material. The difference was that the staff wore slacks and a short sleeve shirts with white shoes. Still, that was a very small difference. A different cut and walk but the same color and material. Same at it's base.

Sasuke led Naruto again, a couple of ghosts in a bleached hallway. Again, Naruto began humming. It was like a bad habit. His voice wasn't particularly good or bad but somewhere in between. It seemed it was always the same song. One that pricked Sasuke's ears and urged him to remember.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Sasuke questioned.

"What?" Naruto asked, cutting out of song.

"Humming, why do you keep humming?"

Naruto, once more a few paces behind, thought for a moment.

"I don't know," Naruto finally answered, "I guess I just do. Why, does it bother you?"

Sasuke wasn't sure.

"No," Sasuke half lied, "What song is it anyway?"

"I don't know," Naruto replied, "Do you know it?"

"If I did, would I have asked?"

"You don't have to be rude."

Sasuke stopped and turned abruptly towards Naruto.

"You seem pretty sane for an asylum," Sasuke confronted.

Naruto became quiet and stared down as his shining black boots.

"You didn't notice them?" he asked.

Sasuke watched as Naruto rolled his sleeves up. He held his arms out, his eyes still locked on the floor. Two long, vertical scars were carved into Naruto's tan skin. He held them there for a moment, displaying them with shame before Sasuke.

"Or this?"

Naruto reached up and pulled down the collar of the jumpsuit. Underneath was an imprinted circle of red around his neck.

"From this morning," he said with a sad smile before hiding the burn again.

"You try to kill yourself?" Sasuke asked.

"Frequently," Naruto furthered, "I've a got a bullet wound too. In the chest. Missed my heart by a centimeter. Can you believe it?"

Sasuke was silent as the information sunk in. Hadn't he been trained to expect this sort of thing?

"Why?" Sasuke couldn't help himself.

Naruto laughed bitterly.

"You ever see those movies where they show little orphans kids and everybody sympathizes with them?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, my town didn't," Naruto said.

Sasuke felt sorry for the blonde boy. He wasn't a bad guy underneath all that dirt. Sasuke supposed he was only dirty because he didn't have a home to bathe in. Or parents to tell him to bathe. A suicidal orphan, was there anything worse?

"Your room," Sasuke gestured before approaching and unlocking a cell.

Naruto walked in slowly. Sasuke didn't know why, there wasn't much to look at in there. It was like any other room in the asylum only smaller and with a bed and toilet. Still, Naruto examined it as if he was scouting out a new home.

"Content?" Sasuke asked, once again irritated.

Naruto sighed and turned to face Sasuke in the doorway.

"Never," he replied, "But at least it's a place to stay."

Sasuke felt an urge to do something comforting but he didn't know what. It was rare for Sasuke to feel much of anything and the emotion repulsed him. He was suddenly glad that he was an intern and not a doctor. He wouldn't have to see much of this strange patient.

"Well, good night, sir," Naruto chimed.

Sasuke felt a twitch of anger in the corner of his mouth.

"I told you to call me Sasuke,"

Naruto smiled brightly. His teeth were surprisingly white for a boy who had been so dirty. Perhaps hygiene wasn't lost on him yet.

_This would be the place to learn it._

"Good night," Naruto repeated, "Sasuke."

Sasuke said nothing but gave an awkward wave before closing and locking the cell door.

"How sweet," a sarcastic voice stated.

Sasuke turned around calmly and gave the nurse that stood before him a cool glare. She hurumphed at him, the air sending her long blonde bangs into a frenzy.

"What do you want, Ino?" Sasuke asked.

Nurse Ino titled her hip to the side and placed a hand on it, abandoning the laundry cart she'd been pushing. Her gray blue eyes drilled into Sasuke. There was something mind boggling about them. Despite Ino's sarcastic and somewat brash personliaty, her eyes portayed a startling sense of lifeless in that she appeared to have no pupils.

"I don't want anything, Sasuke," she said, taking a few steps towards him.

Sasuke didn't react to her. Sasuke didn't react in general. He avioded it when he could. He didn't even blink as Ino reached up and poked the tip of his nose.

"I'm just noticing your new friend," she smiled.

Sasuke's eyebrows lowered, giving the faintest hint of a glare.

"I don't make friends with patients," Sasuke argued.

"Really? Try telling that to the little redhead down in C-block," Ino chuckled, "She seems to think that the two of you are a couple. She won't like him, will she?"

"What are implying?"

"Oh, you're so ignorant, Sasuke," Ino sighed, "You've been here for so long and you're still so ignorant."

Ino's breasts were pushed against him. She ran her fingers through Sasuke's raven hair as she gave him a patronizing smile. Sasuke, annnoyed by the unwanted affection, gave Ino a slight push.

"I hardly recognize a few weeks as a long time," Sasuke stated.

Ino chuckled.

"Oh, that's right," she snorted, "I guess I have different sense of time than you do."

Ino returned to the laundry cart. Sasuke couldn't stand her. The very thought of Nruse Ino seemed to anger him. Yet she was always around one corner or another, constantly touching him and hovering over him.

"Ino," Sasuke called.

Ino turned to look at him, her void eyes expectant but relaxed.

"Aren't you aware of the fact that I have no interest in you?" Sasuke announced factually.

Contrary to Sasuke's expectation, Ino did not seem hurt by his comment. She merely smirked at Sasuke and tossed her pale, cascading blonde hair over her shoulder.

"You make me laugh," she giggled, "I'm not interested in your interest."

Sasuke was unsastified. He'd intended to hurt Ino's feelings and yet she withstood his brazen cruelty. It was both shocking and unpleasant for Sasuke.

"What are you interested in then?" Sasuke asked.

Ino said nothing at first. Instead, she began walking away. Sasuke watched her and leaned against the wall not finding the answer to his question worth chasing her.

"Let's just say," Ino said without turning around, "We're watching you."

Ino had caught Sasuke's attention. He stood up straight, his eyes widened.

"What do you mean, _we_?" Sasuke questioned.

Ino uttered no respone, her hips swaying side to side and her shoes tapping against the tile. Sasuke began to go after her.

"Ino? Ino!" he called angrily.

Ino made no rush in her movement. Her pace was dead steady as she disappeared around the corner.

"Ino!" Sasuke called out again as he started to turn the same corner "What do mean-"

Ino was gone.

**A/N: Thus concludes the first chapter of the story. I really do appreciate reviews and pay attention to them. You readers make my day when you leave me some but I refuse to deny myself the joys of writing and sharing by ransoming it for reviews. So, please, let me know how you like the story so far. Until we journey togther again. ~**


	2. Too Close for Comfort

**A/N: Hello again, everyone. I am super pleased to bring y'all the second chapter. I know some of my readers who've read my past work may be thinking, where's Lyn? Don't you two have conversations before and after every chapter when you write Naruto fanfics? The answer is yes, we do. However, she refuses to have any part of this one because she thinks it is a sad story and she hates sad stories. I don't think it's sad but I'll let you guys be the judge.**

Sasuke detested playroom duty. It was the most dull and pointless task a staff member could be given. He felt sick as he surveyed the patients. They did strange things, the mentally unstable. Some of them appeared normal having conversations with one another over a game of cards. Meanwhile, others had conversations with walls and imaginary people. Others still were worse off. They were drug induced, drooling corpses who did nothing but stare blankly ahead, trapped in what little was left of their minds.

"Do you pity them?" Sai asked.

Sai leaned against the wall and next to Sasuke. The two looked alarming alike and yet distinctly different. Sai had a smile on his face at all times and Sasuke did not. They looked as if they could be brothers or first cousins but their relationship reeked of co-workers.

"No," Sasuke answered, sliding his hands into his pockets.

Sai turned his head to Sasuke and cocked it to the side.

"Why not? Are they not deserving of pity?"

Sasuke scoffed. Sai returned to leaning against the wall. Sasuke didn't have anything against the insane. He merely did not pity people. Of what use was pity? It accomplished nothing. It changed nothing. It was an undriven and redundant emotion. Sasuke felt no urge to be compassionate or understanding. He never had.

_Except..._

"Probably for the best," Sai said, "I myself took an oath never to bond with them. Pity will do that y'know?"

Sasuke tried to shake off the memory of the patient he had encountered the other day as he agreed with Sai. It was an irresponsible idea to bond with a patient. Taking adequate care of them was expected and appropriate, though Choji and Shikamaru hardly understood that concept. There was a difference though between taking care of a patient and caring for one. Not everybody could see it.

"Your girlfriend is here," Sai's constant smile seemed to gain the slightest authenticity.

Karin had entered the playroom. She looked at Sasuke shyly, her knees rubbing against one another. She was heartbreakingly beautiful, as an orderly once said. She had long red hair, straight and well kept on one side but wild and layered on the other. She'd done it herself one night when she seduced the night watch into giving her a pair of scissors. She had a body to die for, toned form and alabaster skin with a full bust and legs that went on and on. It was a shame she was so violently crazy. No man dared to touch her for fear of their lives.

She approached him slowly, her hips swaying with the upmost sensuality. Male staff members gawked at her while pevert patients raped her with their eyes. She seemed oblivious of it all, focusing on Sasuke. In her mind, they were alone.

Sasuke would do not stop Karin. It was her choice, deluded or not, to make a fool of herself. If she attempted to touch him in a manner that was beyond the appropriate, Sasuke would simply inject her with a sedative. It wouldn't be the first time.

Karin made it to Sasuke. She took off her glasses, revealing red eyes, and let the end of the spectacles linger by her mouth. She stood close to Sasuke and looked up at him with false embarrassment.

"My zipper's broken, Sasuke," she said as she pointed to her bared cleavage, "Could you take a look at it?"

Sasuke glanced at the zipper. She had indeed broken it but Sasuke was sure that it was no accident. He looked at Karin with cold eyes.

"Damaging your uniform will not get you your desired outcome," Sasuke noted.

Karin blinked twice before placing a hand on her breast. She pulled down the jumpsuit to reveal more of her soft, white flesh.

"I think I might have scratched myself when I put it on, do you see anything?"

Sasuke grabbed her hand and pulled it away, disgusted with pathetic display of her body. She was so grotesquely sexual. Karin sighed with undeserved ecstasy.

"Oh, Sasuke!" she uttered in a false innocent.

"I don't see anything," Naruto said.

Karin nearly jumped out of her skin at the intrusion. Sasuke paused, his hand in his shirt pocket, reaching for the sedative.

Naruto innocently poked Karin's breast.

"Except for that," Naruto added, "Is that a scratch? Oh no- I think it's a zit."

Karin's face turned red. Karin's complexion often showed which of the three moods she was in. A normal, pale face meant that Karin was in an average mood. When Karin blushed pink, it meant that she was horny or desired to appear that way. It was Karin's complexion of red that had landed her in the asylum.

"You pervert son of a bitch!" she screamed, her hands flying towards Naruto's neck.

Karin tackled Naruto and began to strangle him. A parade of profanity raced out of her mouth as her nails dug into Naruto's flesh and her grip deprived him air. Naruto kicked his legs in panic as he tried to pry the madwoman off of him.

Her eyes were red as she rained down her fury on Naruto. Naruto could feel his heart go into a fit as the oxygen in his system came to an abrupt halt. He could do nothing but look into Karin's eyes. Karin's red eyes which seemed to scream unholy threats and damnation all on their own. Her crazed hair had one lock that flipped upwards, almost like a horn. She was terrifying as all devil woman are.

"You think you have any fucking right to touch me? I'll kill you! You fucking pervert _spawn_! I'll kill you and leave your body to the necrophiliacs! I'll chop off your dick and use it to-"

Karin's body became rigid and her eyes grew wide. Her grip loosened, much to what seemed like Naruto's relief. Naruto gasped and choked for air. Karin watched him somewhat aroused by the comeback from death. She slowly became sleepy.

"Hey," she said, looking over Naruto, "You're kind of cute."

Karin fell over and on top of Naruto with a thud. Naruto scrambled to knees, still coughing and gagging. Sai lifted Karin, picking her up from under her arms and dragged her away to her room.

Naruto breathed heavily as Sasuke offered a hand to him. Naruto hesitated but took it.

"Are you all right?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto didn't respond at first. He brushed himself off and then stared at his shoes. Patients often blanked out for minutes on end but Naruto hadn't seemed the type. Still, Sasuke waited and waited for a reply as Naruto solemnly stared at his feet.

"I asked you a question," Sasuke ordered.

Naruto didn't look up or move as he whispered something.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"Why didn't you let it happen?" Naruto cried softly before taking off.

Sasuke stood there shocked for a moment before chasing after Naruto, while angrily making a mental note to remind Sai to lock the door the next time he removes a patient, but Naruto was already out of his sight. Sasuke skidded to a stop to where the hallway divided. He looked to his left and right and listened closely.

Sasuke heard a light thudding to his right and took off in that direction. Sasuke felt his heart beating against his chest as he made way towards the sound. What could Naruto be doing?

It wasn't just the sense of a runaway patient that tugged on Sasuke's anxiety levels but something more. The tone of Naruto's voice dug into Sasuke's ear. The pain of it clawed at his pyche. Those words, that thought, hurt Sasuke and he didn't know why.

As Sasuke neared the origin of the sound, he could hear Choji laughing. It was a deep laughter, too hearty for it's own good. Shikamaru was sure to be there laughing or not. Sasuke rounded the corner, turning on his heel and came to a sharp stop.

Choji was standing there, guffawing and eating away at a bag of chips. Shikamaru leaned up against the wall, a bored and passive look on his face. Naruto was ramming himself into the wall over and over.

"That's one strong wall!" Choji breaked from his laughter.

"Whatever," Shikamaru commented.

Naruto backed up and geared himself for another go. He ran full speed at the wall and hit it with a deafening smack. Blood leaked from his head as he fell down again. He pulled himself up, groaning as he did so, and forced himself to back up and try again.

"Uzumaki!" Sasuke shouted as he ran to him.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the arms just as Naruto had prepared himself to run again. Naruto fought with Sasuke; his arms flailing and his body twisting until they wound up on the floor. Sasuke glared at Choji and Shikamaru.

"What is wrong with you two!" he yelled.

"What, you suddenly care about these freaks?" Shikamaru grumbled.

Sasuke's glare intensified.

"What do you know, he can show emotion!" Choji added.

"You're sick. The both of you."

Shikamaru shrugged and Choji popped another chip into his distgustingly big mouth. The two turned away and left Sasuke to their now stifled entertainment. Naruto continued to move his body about wildly in an attempt to escape, screaming at Sasuke all the while.

"Stop it!" Sasuke demanded.

"Why!" Naruto cried out, "Why didn't you just let it happen! Why!"

Sasuke could feel the sudden pain from the statement. The words raked at his ears, like nails to chalkboard.

"WHY!" Naruto screamed, "WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST LET ME DIE!"

Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He released Naruto and stood up. He could feel his anger surround him. He could almost taste the salt of his bitter emotions. His calm deanmor was diminished. Naruto looked up at him, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

"Fine!" Sasuke shouted his voice then sinking into a venemous tone "If that's what you want then do it! Don't have any regard for your life. Maybe I shouldn't either. Why should I care about a stupid little kid like you? You're so inept you can't even kill yourself."

Naruto still stared at Sasuke, his eyes big and blue and filled to the brim with tears. A trickle of blood had found its way to Naruto's eye. It almost looked like he was crying blood but Sasuke would not waver.

"Well, go ahead," Sasuke urged angrily, "Bash your brains out. See if I care enough to stop you again."

Naruto dropped his eyes to the floor. Sasuke tried not to look at him but found himself doing so anyway. Naruto didn't move an inch and seemed to be contemplating something again.

_Stupid kid..._

Naruto began to slump over and then proceeded to fall on his face. Sasuke immeadiately went to his aid. He lifted Naruto slowly and looked at him. His eyes were closed but he was breathing. Sasuke sighed out of relief.

_He's okay, thank God._

Sasuke picked up Naruto, carrying him in his arms like a babe. It was a bit of a journey to get to the closest medical room. A bit ironic considering they were in a hospital.

Sasuke, having no other option than the endless white, watched Naruto. Every once and a while, Naruto would move. His nose would twitch or he'd furrow his brow. Once he bit his lip. Sasuke wasn't sure if Naruto looked adorable or tortured.

"Oh!" Nurse Hinata cried at the sight of the two boys.

Hinata was a beautiful young woman. She was very well endowed and curvy. She had long, dark hair down to her waist. Sasuke recognized her as an attractive woman but was by no means attracted to her. She was shy and often nervous and Sasuke detested such mousy behavior.

It was strange, Hinata had gray eyes and, like Ino, no pupils.

Hinata scrambled to throw a clean paper sheet on top of the patient's table.

"W-what happened?" she stammered.

Hinata was plagued with a terrible stutter. It didn't really seem to have a trigger. It was as constant as any of her introverted habits.

"I caught him throwing himself into a wall," Sasuke answered.

Sasuke laid Naruto down on the table. Hinata clumsily knocked over a tray of doctoral equipment as she searched for something to clean up Naruto's blood. Sasuke, annoyed with her inefficiency, handed her a paper towel. Hinata, embarrassed, took it and dabbed at the red on the blonde's forehead.

"Why was he th-throwing himself into a- a wall?"

Sasuke sighed. He didn't have the patience or desire to tell the incompetent nurse the story. He barely understood or believed it himself.

"We might need to d-do a few x-rays," Hinata worried, "I-I'll get Nurse Tsunade."

Hinata shuffled off into the hallway, closing the door behind her. Sasuke looked down and noticed that she'd left Naruto's wounds undressed. He opened a cabinet, located some bandaging and began to wrap it around Naruto's head.

He was half way done when Naruto's eyes began to open.

"Uzumaki?" Sasuke asked, checking for conciousness.

Naruto blinked slowly trying to grasp the concept of his surroundings. A smile began to form as his eyes settled on Sasuke.

"Do you?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke was unsure as he stood there with a confused patient's cranium in one hand and a roll of bandaging in the other.

"Do I what?"

Naruto reached up and took hold of Sasuke's wrist. It was a light grip almost gentle. Sasuke knew that it wasn't for the sake of comfort. Naruto just lacked strength.

"Do you care?" Naruto asked, looking into Sasuke's eyes.

Sasuke felt an odd mixture of embarrassment and pain. He wanted to ignore the question and finish bandaging Naruto up but found himself paralyzed.

"Lay down," Sasuke managed to command, "Naruto, just lay down."

Naruto burst into a goofy, half asleep grin. Sasuke felt the air hiss out of him at the sight. He knew it wasn't much too look at but he felt like it was. Naruto was somewhat handsome. Sasuke never denied that but wasn't the same recognition of physical beauty that he gave to Hinata or Ino or Karin or anyone of the others.

Naruto was blonde haired and blue eyed like a cherub. He was already a grown man but there was something boyish about him. Admist Naruto's smiling face, Sasuke noticed light scars over his cheeks. They almost looked like whiskers.

Sasuke knew Naruto was attractive but he felt to more so and he was beginning to think, although to his denial, that maybe he felt that way because he was attracted to Naruto.

Sasuke tried to shake off the notion and in his bewilderment finished dressing Naruto's wound. He looked at the half asleep boy for a minute, trying to piece it all together. Something wasn't normal. Something about Naruto, about this place, about Sasuke himself wasn't normal.

Naruto, in his half awake state, turned to look at Sasuke. His head tilted to the side as he outstretched his arm towards him.

"Stay with me," Naruto asked before slipping back into unconciousness.

Sasuke eyed the door but found that he lacked the nonchalance to use it. He looked back at Naruto. Sasuke took steps towards him. With every step he couldn't get rid of the feeling that he was approaching the imminent. It was almost like everything in his body was forcing him to sit down in the chair across from Naruto, everything but one shriveled shread of common sense.

It screamed to Sasuke telling him to turn around and leave. It shouted to him that he was a staff member and that this guy, no matter who he was or what effect he had on Sasuke, was a patient. It reprimanded Sasuke for the display of emotion.

Sasuke could barely hear it over the thud of his own heart.

Sasuke stared at Naruto in both bitter resingation and heartfelt concern though neither could be seen on his face. Sasuke's eyelids became heavy, blink by blink. He could hear a voice in his head, whispering something but he couldn't quite hear it. He didn't really care to hear it.

As his eyes finally blink to close, Sasuke caught what his mind was trying to tell him.

_Don't get too close._

**A/N: Leave me reviews? I love it when you do. ;)**


	3. Corners of Darkness

**A/N: Here comes chapter three! I've read this over several dozen times and run it through some spell checks but I'm still searching for a commited beta! I can't catch everything myself no matter how many times I read these damn things! Oh, and as a warning, there is a serious 'WTF' mind fuck moment in this but just let yourself be confused, you're supposed to be. ;)**

Group therapy days came and went in Konoha Asylum. Sasuke wasn't even sure he knew exactly what days were therapy days. It didn't matter though. Sasuke was sure that plenty of patients didn't know, too absorbed in their madness to give a damn about the date. The staff never said anything about it and Sasuke didn't care to ask. They simply came together, without warning or call.

Sasuke had to, for inexplicable reasons, help supervise one of the groups. He had begrudgingly accepted the duty without ever questioning how it applied to his internship. Sasuke didn't really care what the asylum made him do as long as it wasn't beyond his station. Still, he couldn't quite get over how creepy it was to watch them file in, dull and lifeless, one by one. Sasuke said and showed nothing of this observation. He merely kept it to himself and left the patients and staff to their strange ritual.

The group was an odd bunch, even for an asylum. Karin was it's most notable member for obvious reasons. She was the most vocal and volatile. She had been commited due to her violent outburtsts as well as her obsession and extreme hatred of men. She almost appeared to be schizophrenic, seductively flirting away at one moment and attacking in another.

There was Shino, a mute with a distiurbing love for insects. He actually believed he had the power to control them. He had a generally calm demeanor and he never seemed angry or unhappy. He was just a loon who thought he was a bug. He was particularly good at cards though. It tended to upset some of the more emotional patients.

Kiba was an overly aggresive and conflict driven boy who valued a dog's life more than a person's. He tried working in a dog shelter but after he released the hounds onto the streets, claiming that they deserved their freedom, he was fired. He had an imaginary pet when he began his stay in the asylum. It was a dog he called Akumaru and he described it as a male, small, white dog. He often growled at the staff and other patients and had decided that any area he occupied was his territory.

Then there was Gaara, who was by far the most frightening of the the group if not the entire asylum. Gaara was a redheaded sociopath. He might have been a handsome young man if it wasn't for some added features. Gaara had no eyebrows and dark circles under his eyes from his insomnia, an insomia that no drug seemed to help. The most hideous part of his appearance was the symbol for love on his forehead. It was a groteseque burn protruding from Gaara's head as if he'd been branded. The lines bulged out, a stark red color. The only feature that equaled the scar's disturbing quality was the way Gaara's eyes watched the people around him. Gaara would stare and his green eyes had a calm and calculating hate behind them. He was strapped to a metalic device, with his mouth muzzled much in the style of Hannibal Lector but his eyes made its target feel like he would strike at any moment and without mercy or emotion.

Shino had an odd friendship with Gaara, if one could call it that. Since Shino was a mute and Gaara preferred not to speak, they got along in an odd way. Shino would sit with him, blinking at Gaara and Gaaara would be strapped there, blinking at Shino. Frequently, they kept one another occupied during group therapy since the two of them never had much to say.

The group sessions were rather boring since Shino and Gaara didn't converse, Karin did nothing by try to seduce Sasuke and Kiba played catch with a figment of his imagination. It hardly seemed like it was time well spent but a ritual is a ritual.

"Welcome to today's group," Dr. Kabuto said.

Dr. Kabuto was a nice enough man but despite his professional and somewhat gentle nature, there seemed to be something secretive about him. He would smile at everyone but there would be this split moment when he'd shift his glasses down and the light reflected on the lenses hid his eyes. It made Sasuke suspicious but not to the extent that he'd go beyond his own business with Dr. Kabuto. Still, the feeling always lingered.

"Please be warm and inviting to Haku and Naruto," he said with a smile.

As Dr. Kabuto spoke, Naruto walked into the room followed by Haku who was being pushed in a wheelchair by Ino. Sasuke watched Naruto with a sense of wonder and frustration. Was this kid destined to follow him everywhere?

Karin glared at Naruto and when he made eye contact with her, she winked at him. Kiba sniffed the air at the new comers. Gaara's demon eyes watched their every move, casually glancing back and forth between Naruto and Haku. Shino was uninterested as he tracked on imaginary bug across his sleeve.

Naruto looked nervous until he noticed Sasuke. A bright grin spread across his face, his eyes locked on Sasuke. Sasuke remained cool and uneffected.

_Stupid kid._

Naruto took a seat across from Sasuke, with Shino to his left and Kiba to his right. His eyes stayed on Sasuke, his goofy grin still intact. Kiba leaned over and sniffed at Naruto.

"Smells like a bitch," he laughed, looking to Akumaru.

Naruto's brow furrowed.

"Hey!" Naruto snapp`ed.

Kiba kept laughing and patted the figment's head. Naruto shifted from being upset to being curious. He stared at the patch of air that Kiba was petting.

"Um, what are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"Idiot," Kiba snuffed, "This is my dog, Akumaru."

Naruto looked confused at first. Sasuke watched as Naruto tried to conentrate, squinting to see Kiba's imaginary pet. Sasuke sighed, Naruto was either really stupid or honest to God crazy.

"Oh," Naruto said suddenly, "Yeah! I see him!"

Kiba looked up from patting the imaginary dog. Sasuke's jaw dropped slighty and he quickly covered up his reaction. He glanced at Dr. Kabuto who studied the scene intently.

"Really?"

Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, he's kind of cute. What kind is he?"

Kiba's face seemed to lighten up as Sasuke watched in confusion. Surely Naruto was kidding.

"He's a mutt. He has a lot of smaller breeds in him though. Makes it easier for me to keep him around," Kiba answered.

"Can I pet him?" Naruto asked.

Kiba smiled for the first time since he'd been at group. Sasuke was almost in wonder of Naruto. The little blonde seemed to have this strange talent for befriending even the most opposing and unhappy people.

"Sure, but are your hands clean? White fur's a little hard to keep clean, man. You can pet his ears though. Brown's not difficult at all. Let him sniff you first."

Naruto held out his hand in the air as Kiba's imaginary pet sniffed away. Naruto waited a few minutes and then procceeded to give Akumaru a scratch behind his ear.

"That quite enough," Dr. Kabuto anounced.

Kiba immeadiately picked up his dog and held him protectively in his lap. Naruto, confused still held his hand out frozen and in place.

"Naruto," Dr. Kabuto began, "While it's nice to befriend other patients, I'll ask you not to indugle in their delusions."

Naruto frowned.

"Delusions?" Naruto asked.

"I've had enough of your playing along, Naruto. You and I both know that Akumaru is not a real dog," Dr. Kabuto continued to scold.

Naruto looked over at Kiba, who was defensively holding Akumaru. Kiba glanced away from growling at Dr. Kabuto. His eyes lingered on Naruto for a moment, questioning him.

"But, doctor," Naruto aruged, "Akumaru's right there!"

"Naruto," Sasuke called.

Sasuke was irritated with Naruto's insistance almost as much as Dr. Kabuto was. Sasuke didn't give a damn though if Naruto furthered Kiba's delusions but Naruto's own delusions were in question. Sasuke didn't want the blonde to be any more unstable than he was whether that meant losing a new found friend or not.

"Yeah, Sasuke?" Naruto awaited.

"Hush," Sasuke commanded.

Naruto pouted at Sasuke.

"I don't have to do what you say!

Dr. Kabuto smiled at this.

"I see you're becoming more yourself, Naruto. I'm pleased," he stated, "Your records indicated that you were a mischievious one."

Naruto stopped pouting and , embarrassed, tucked his foot behind his ankle and stared at his knees. Sasuke smiled, realized he had smiled, and quickly rid himself of the expression.

Meanwhile, Karin had been eyeing Haku. She stared at the comatose patient with a sense of judgement and disatisfaction. She pointed to him.

"Why is there another woman here?" Karin asked, agitation leaking into her words.

"Now, Karin," Dr. Kabuto assured, "Haku isn't a woman. Haku is a man."

Kiba and Naruto looked surprised. Even Gaara's eyes seemed to widen at the prospect of this beautiful person being a man. Haku had big brown eyes rimmed with dark, long lashes. His dark hair cascaded down his back. Women who wore makeup hardly held a candle to him. Even Karin paled in comparison.

_Haku...that's the patient who-_

Sasuke forced himself to ignore the disturbing memory of Haku and tried to focus on his surroundings.

Naruto stood over Haku and and peered down at him. He seemed to be examining him. Sasuke felt a mixture of annoyance and embarrassment.

_He's like a child!_

"Naruto!" Dr Kabuto was getting annoyed with him, "Take your seat, please."

Naruto turned around and sat back down, still displaying doubt that Haku was a man. Karin accepted it reluctantly. Kiba had simply loss interest and the others never really had any to say in the first place.

"Let's begin, shall we?" Dr Kabuto directed, "Does anyone have anything they'd like to share or will I have to force you?"

The group said nothing. Instead they figdeted or drooled or played with the figments of their imagination. It was much like trying to get any group of people to talk, sane or not.

Sasuke watched as Naruto looked to his left and right and then energetically raised his hand.

Dr. Kabuto, a little surprised and amused by the action, laughed lightly.

"Yes, Naruto?"

" I want to apologize!"

Dr. Kabuto pushed up his glasses and the mysterious sheen came over them.

"It's all right, Naruto. You were just trying to make friends with Kiba. You're forgiven-"

"No, I want to apologize for poking Karin the other day."

Dr. Kabuto's mouth dropped open. Sasuke stifled a snicker. It wasn't every day that Dr. Kabuto was wrong. In fact, the good doctor often prided himself on always being right. Yet he had assumed something and as result, made an ass of himself.

Karin, in true bipolar fashion, quickly became enraged at bthe memory. Her face had become the same color as her hair and eyes in a manner of seconds. Her hands were poised to either choke or claw, it was difficult to say.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Karin screamed at Naruto, who cowered before her mighty insanity.

"Karin," Dr. Kabuto warned, "Go to your happy place."

Karin closed her eyes tight and her hands gripped the chair as she tried to focus. A sudden look of calm overcame her face returning her complexion which then grew pink with a look of mild pleasure. Sasuke couldn't help but assume that Karin's happy place was a love chamber occupied with all of her past victims of obsession. Needless to say, Sasuke was about as thrilled at Karin being calm as he was at her being furious. Both were frightening in their own ways.

Karin came out of her trance and sighed in a way that seemed inaproppriate.

"Well done, Karin," Dr. Kabuto praised, "Now, Naruto was just apologizing for his behavior, that's nothing to get angry for."

Karin looked over at the blonde who blinked back at her with an expression of wonder from her earlier transformation.

"I forgive you," Karin pushed herself to say, "After all, who wouldn't want to touch?"

She finished on a cocky note and swung one leg over the other. Naruto looked relieved.

Sasuke wasn't quite sure why Naruto apologized. If anybody needed to make ammends it was Karin. She had tried to kill Naruto. Naruto never meant to upset her, even Sasuke could see that. He was a bit of an innocent. Naruto really hadn't known any better.

Sasuke stared down Karin. She blushed and pushed her cleavage out towards him the moment she noticed. The usual disgust didn't even register to Sasuke. He had something more important on his mind.

"Apologize to Naruto," Sasuke demanded.

Karin's face dropped as well as her attempt at seduction.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You heard me, apologize."

Karin was at a loss for words. Her face shifted emotions rapidly. She was hurt. She was furious. She was confused. She was jealous.

Naruto was less indecisive about his emotional output. He sat there with wide eyes. He was surprised but pleasantly so. The faintest blush hinted at his cheeks. Sasuke had glanced over and caught the expression.

_Don't look at me like that...it just isn't right if she doesn't apologize. I'm not doing it for you, idiot!_

"Sasuke," Dr. Kabuto interrupted, "I'll ask you kindly not to interfere with the therapy."

Sasuke was tired of Dr. Kabuto being on his high horse. What did he have to be so authoritative over? A therapy group where half the patients never spoke?

"If I do nothing, then what's the point of me being here?" Sasuke fired.

Dr. Kabuto adjusted his glasses once more to their infamous glint.

"Your being here is to observe," he corrected, "You are here to learn."

"I've learned nothing from this."

Dr. Kabuto was beginning to get irritated.

"Sasuke, need I remind you that you are not a patient? Please stop arguing, you look terribly childish."

"You're the one compensating by using what you think is a more sophisticated vocabulary," Sasuke pointed out.

Dr. Kabuto, no matter what, never seemed to lose his temper. He had this calm fury about him. It was as if his anger was embodied into the atmosphere behind him, leaving him free to smile. It made it all the more intimidating but not to Sasuke.

"Perhaps," Dr. Kabuto replied, "The warden will set you straight?"

"You're joking," Sasuke said.

Dr. Kabuto shook his head. As Sasuke stood up to report to the warden's office, he felt like a school kid being sent to detention. Sasuke glanced at Naruto on his way out and Naruto looked back at him with awe and gratitude.

It turned out to be a long walk to the warden's office. Then again, it always felt like a long walk anywhere in the asylum. It was like traversing an endless white abyss. Sasuke was only grounded by the hints of texture and definition here and there. If Sasuke blurred his eyes even the slightest bit, he felt it might be possible to drift off into an endless alabaster sea.

Sasuke had never sat down with the warden before and as he stood outside his door, he felt hesitance rear its ugly head. What if the warden really was some sort of devilish miscreant? His voice certainly gave the impression.

Sasuke ignored his paranoia and knocked on the door.

"Come in," the warden's voice hissed.

Sasuke fought the instinctive urge to tuck tail and run for it. He would stand his ground whether his survival instincts knew it or not. After all, it was just his boss, wasn't it?

Upon opening the door, Sasuke was confronted with what know seemed like an enternity of shadows. The warden's office was so dark that it appeared black.

"Hello?" Sasuke called.

Sasuke could hear shuffling inside the room.

"Yes, come in," the warden said once more.

Sasuke took a step into the room and as he did a chill ran up his spine. The warden's office was dark _and_ cold.

"Close the door behind you," the warden invited.

Before Sasuke did as he was told, he took one last glance at the light. Suddenly, he felt a small longing for the stark, bright white of the asylum.

There was a moment of absolute darkness after Sasuke closed the door. It was so dark that Sasuke couldn't see his own hand. There was more shuffling noises and Sasuke could feel his heart rate steadily rise.

"Good," the warden's voice said.

The warden switched on a desk lamp which illuminated a purple glow. It was like a small plum colored lantern in the empty darkness. The light was dim but at least it was light.

"Forgive me," the warden stated, "I have an oposition to bright lights. It's a bit of a medical condition."

Sasuke said nothing. He was too busy concentrating on what little he could see of the warden. It was just a set of arms fading into an obsure torso-like figure. His face was lost amongst the dark.

"What's your name?" the warden asked.

Sasuke was the type of person who purposely chose not to make eye contact with people. However, in this situation he had no choice. Sasuke couldn't see any eyes to refuse.

"Sasuke Uchiha," he answered, "You're the warden."

"Call me Orochimaru," the warden replied.

The warden's hands were pale so much so that they appeared to be gray. He had grown his fingersnails a bit too long and they'd started to turn yellow. Sasuke looked down at his own hands. They were a white pale but with pink undertones. Orochimaru didn't appear to have any undertones at all.

"It seems that Dr. Kabuto is concerned for you," Orochimaru said.

Sasuke glared.

"Dr. Kabuto should be concerned with his patients, like Karin for example."

Orochimaru chuckled and the sound seemed to radiate bad vibes to Sasuke.

"Do you blame her for your ouburst, Sasuke?"

Sasuke thought about it. Naturally, he blamed both Karin and Naruto. He blamed Karin because she was the one deserving of blame and he blamed Naruto for making him care enough to blame her. Had it been anybody else, he wouldn't bother. Still, he couldn't bring himself to admit it.

"She attacked another patient the other day without any retribution or scolding. If Dr. Kabuto cared for his patients, he would have addressed it."

"Dr. Kabuto is very caring of his patients," Orochimaru assured, "But perhaps you should be a little less caring?"

Sasuke felt his face get hot depsite the bitter cold of the room. It was the embarrassment of being caught going beyond his station and the insinuation of his odd feelings towards Naruto. Sasuke knew Orochimaru wouldn't know anything of those feelings but his own knowledge convicted him none the less.

"I'm doing my job," Sasuke lied.

Orochimaru said nothing and slowly a face emerged from the shadows. Orochimaru's face was as pale and lifeless as his hands but his eyes were bright and golden. His black hair draped the edges of his defined and somewhat comely face.

"Be wary of what the insane will do to you," Orochimaru warned, "Never forget who are the superior ones."

Sasuke felt his stomach churn. It was a simple enough statement and yet it took Sasuke's innards and twisted them about.

"Who would that be?" Sasuke asked, masking his sudden sickness.

"Us," Orochimaru smiled as he put his cold hand on top of Sasuke's, "You and I."

Sasuke stared at Orochimaru's hand. He felt as if he'd vomit at any minute and he couldn't understand why. Orochimaru wasn't exactly the most relaxing person to be around but he certainly shouldn't have been this discomforting.

Orochimaru was both hideous and handsome. It was like looking at a dying man with his nails too long and his skin so lifeless.

_Like a good looking corpse..._ Sasuke realized as his sickness tried to conquer him.

Sasuke slipped his hand out from under Orochimaru's and stood up quickly. He turned, unable to utter a goodbye as he made way for the door in the dark.

"Sasuke!" Orochimaru called out.

The warden's voice sounded as if it had changed. The hiss had disappeared along with the air of deviance. Sasuke couldn't help but halt.

"Be careful with the others," Orochimaru warned once more, "We don't want to lose you."

Sasuke's hand gripped at his chest. A sudden pain had overcome his heart and it was near unbearable.

_A heart attack?_

Sasuke tried to force a foot forward.

"Sasuke?" Orochimaru called, his voice still tender.

Sasuke grunted as his body rejected the movement. The pain was too great and Sasuke fell to his knees. His eyes grew heavy and his vision began to blur as he looked at the floor. The colors almost seemed to change and the textures shifted. The dark concrete fazed in and out being replaced and reformed into something softer. Sasuke tried to concentrate on the in and out vision. The floor kept changing into something soft and blue. Something with...ducks on them?

_Blanky?_ Sasuke managed to question, _Why is my blanket-?_

Sasuke tumbled over to his side.

"Sasuke!" a voice called.

Sasuke felt arms cradle around him and for a moment, he felt at peace. Sasuke gazed up at what appeared to be himself.

_Is that possible?_

Sasuke's double was surely some clone or vision yet he wasn't quite a replica. Sasuke tried to concentrate on the difference but as he did, Orochimaru's mug blurred onto the clone.

"Sasuke," the being said, "Don't leave. Stay with me. I'll take care of you!"

Sasuke felt the disharmonic emotions of pain and comfort. The creature's face blurred back and forth between Sasuke's own and Orochimaru's. His own face appeared to be crying while Orochimaru's licked his lips in some sort of anticipation. Sasuke fought the urge to blink. He fought for it and against it.

"I'll take care of you!" his clone face sobbed.

"I'll take care of you," Orochimaru said seductively.

Sasuke felt the room get dizzier and dizzier and the faces of the shape shifting being seemed to meld with one another. The shadows of the room grew closer and closer and as they did they consumed the hideous creature. Sasuke could hear it cry out as the black overcame Sasuke's world.

_Somebody...I'm fading...I'm fading away...help me..._

**A/N: Confused? Good, you ought to be. XD Hope you guys liked it and I will put up the next chapter as soon as I finish writing it, then reading it over...and over...and over...**


	4. A Glimpse of Color

**A/N: It is almost five o'clock in the morning where I am but I was tired of waiting to put this up. Not fair to stick you all with a cliff hanger. I hope y'all are in the mood for a little of the fluffy stuff because there's a bit packed in here. ; ) I'm a lover of fluff after all.**

Sasuke felt warm. The smell of grass was in the air. His eyes remained closed. He was laying on something soft.

A pair of hands suddenly rested on Sasuke's shoulders.

"Sasuke!" a raspy voice called out in irritation.

The hands gently shook Sasuke from his slumber. Sasuke's eyes blinked open slowly and attempted to focus. The first thing he could make out was a flesh color, then yellow, and finally two dots of blue. A bright light was behind the figure and Sasuke winced as definition settled in.

"Naruto?" he asked, awestruck.

Naruto smiled at him and gave him a light punch on the shoulder before taking a seat next to him. Sasuke ignored it as he sat up.

Sasuke was shocked as he looked around him. Behind them was a large weeping willow. The bark was old and dark and the leaves hung above them. A bright sun leaked it's light through the cascading leaves and branches. In front of them was a shallow river. The water was clear and flowed lightly over the riverbed. The rocks seemed neatly alined and they shimmered a deep cerulean blue. Beyond that was hills and hills of tall, green grass rolling on into the horizon.

"Where are we?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shrugged. Sasuke looked at him. His hair and eyes seemed brighter and his uniform had been traded out for a burnt orange t-shirt and relaxed pair of blue jeans.

Naruto gave Sasuke the once over with a tender smile, making Sasuke look at himself. Sasuke was somehow wearing a navy blue button up and a pair of black pants. He fingered the collar of the open shirt still in shock.

"How did we-"

Naruto threw his arms around Sasuke. Sasuke, stunned, became stiff as a board. Naruto buried his face into the dip of Sasuke's shoulder. Naruto smelled sweet. His body was warm against Sasuke. Suddenly, Sasuke felt something wet. Naruto was crying.

"I missed you," Naruto murmured.

Sasuke's eyes grew wide and with one blink everything changed. Sasuke flung himself upwards with a gasp.

The white world of the asylum was back.

"Sasuke?" Ino asked.

The pale blonde hovered over him. Sasuke looked at her with his heart racing and a confused expression on his face.

"A-are you all right?" Hinata asked shyly from the corner.

Ino reached up to feel Sasuke's forehead but he smacked her hand away. She held her hand against her chest protectively.

"I was just going to see if you have a fever!"

"What's going on?" Sasuke shouted.

Hinata and Ino were silent. The lights buzzed away, accentuating their voicelessness. Sasuke's stare was intense, demanding answers. The girl's looked shocked but Sasuke couldn't help but feel they looked guilty as well.

"You fainted, Sasuke" Ino finally answered.

"Y-yeah," Hinata added.

Sasuke continued to stare them down.

"Nobody faints the way I just did."

The door opened suddenly and the three gave imeadiate attention to the intruder.

"I trust you're feeling better?" Dr. Kabuto asked.

As Dr. Kabuto spoke, his glasses glinted. Sasuke tried to muster up his melancholic demeanor. Sasuke was sure that others saw his ability to be cool and collected as simple since it was his nature but Sasuke was as vunerable to emotions like anger and panic as anyone else was.

"I'm fine," Sasuke answered.

Dr. Kabuto did not seem satisfied. He took a few steps towards Sasuke, examining him with critical calculation.

"Are you? The warden was very adamant about your health when he heard about you."

Sasuke looked for some sinster expression but it was hard to tell with Dr. Kabuto. He always appeared to be lying.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked, confused, "He was there when it happened."

Dr. Kabuto laughed lightly and addressed Ino and Hinata.

"I guess he's not doing as good as he seems," he joked.

Ino didn't chuckle but turned around and busied herself with a cabinet. Hinata still stood in her corner, a silent and skittish mouse. Dr. Kabuto turned back to Sasuke.

"You passed out on your way to group today," Dr. Kabuto said, "Did you two not tell him? The warden wouldn't have been there, Sasuke. He's usually in his office but once he heard about it, he became very concerned."

Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew for a fact that he'd been Orochimaru's office. He knew that he'd fainted there. Everything about it was crystal clear from the dark room to the warden's pale arms. The only thing that was fuzzy was how he got from there, to Naruto and that place and then to the medical room.

"Are you suggesting that I never went to group therapy?" Sasuke asked.

"Indeed, you never made it," Dr. Kabuto replied, "Perhaps you forgot to eat breakfast? I never see you eating, Sasuke. That's very dangerous behavior."

"No!" Sasuke shouted, losing his composure "I went to group today. Naruto and Haku were introduced. How would know that unless I was there?"

"You would if you read the breakroom bulletin board," Dr. Kabuto answered, "Which I'd been assuming you didn't. Well done Sasuke. That's good intiative."

"No! I was there. I know I was there."

Ino slammed the cabinet door.

"That's enough of that, Sasuke!" Ino said, "Dr. Kabuto says you weren't there so you weren't there. Besides, I found you in the hallway myself."

Sasuke shut his mouth.

"Getting fl-flustered," Hinata struggled, "won't help."

Sasuke's right hand formed into a tight fist. He could feel his nails digging into his palms and the strong desire to place his agression. He stared down at his lap, trying to avoid a physcally confrontation.

"I guess I was dreaming then?" he asked bitterly before looking up.

Ino nodded, her gray eyes stern. Hinata, from her corner also gave a slight nod. Dr. Kabuto smirked and Sasuke once again felt angry.

Sasuke said nothing as he stood up from the patient's table. He approached the door but Dr. Kabuto refused to move aside.

"So, you understand now?" Dr. Kabuto asked.

Sasuke bit on his tongue before answering.

"Yes," he lied.

Dr. Kabuto smiled and took a step to the side, allowing Sasuke to exit. Sasuke walked with a falsely casual pace with his fists buried deep into his pockets.

_I know what happened. Why are they lying to me?_

Sasuke continued down the corridor, his pace increasing.

Sasuke could feel how stubborn he was being. They were being passive but Sasuke knew they were being dishonest. Why would they lie? What kind of place was this?

_Was I not supposed to see the warden's face?_

Sasuke was halfway to the break room as he began to doubt himself.

_Maybe it was a dream. It makes more sense that way._

The experience was a surreal and Sasuke thought about. The more he did, the more he entertained the idea of Dr. Kabuto's story. If he'd been a third party stranger, he'd believe Dr. Kabuto long before he'd believed himself.

Sasuke couldn't stand the idea of not being able to trust himself and decided that he'd find out whether or not he was right. He stopped and leaned against one of the walls. He wasn't even sure where he'd been running to anyway.

_Who would tell me the truth?_

Sasuke didn't really have any friends. He was never very social and he'd made a point of that. The closest thing he had was Sai but Sai hadn't been there. He could ask Karin but he preffered not to and the others were useless.

_Except for..._

Sasuke turned around and headed for Naruto's room. His palms felt sweaty as they swayed with his walk. The tempo of his heart picked up. He had no reason to be nervous and yet he felt it underneath his cool exterior.

He was close to the door. He reached for the door's lock. The buttons of the keypad had a tinge of yellow to their glow. His fingers hesitated.

_How do I know that he'll be honest with me?_

Sasuke turned and leaned against the door. He blew his bangs out of his face and sighed. As he did, he thought he heard noises. He turned his head and pressed his ear close to the door.

It almost sounded like Naruto was humming. Sasuke turned back and punched in the code for the door.

_I really don't have any other choice._

Naruto looked at him with innocence and surprise.

"Sasuke," he said, sitting up, " what are you doing here?"

Sasuke took a seat next to Naruto and sighed.

"When was the last time you saw me?" he asked.

Naruto thought about this.

"I don't know," Naruto answered, "We didn't meet that long ago."

Sasuke looked Naruto in the eyes. They stared back at him, an ocean of innocence.

"Did you see me at group therapy?" Sasuke clarified.

The waters of Naruto's eyes darkened and he turned away.

"I don't know," he said quickly.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the shoulder. Christ, was Naruto a beautiful boy. It was almost painful how he didn't want to look at Sasuke. It was like trying to get a child to confess.

"Naruto, tell me the truth."

"I don't know," Naruto repeated.

"Naruto," Sasuke said sternly.

"I don't know!"

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by both shoulders and turned the blonde towards him. His dark eyes searched for eye contact. They were demanding it.

"Naruto!"

Naruto pushed Sasuke off of him and turned away. Sasuke's arms were still outstretched as Naruto sat there denying him answers. Sasuke looked straight forward and put his limbs to rest.

"When was the last time you remember seeing me?" Naruto asked, breaking the quiet.

Sasuke glanced back. He wanted to say that the last time they saw one another was in group therapy but he tried to think of any other occurences.

Suddenly, it hit him.

"Is that why you won't answer me?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto was silent still refusing him. Sasuke felt both a little ashamed and angry. Of course, the anger prevailed.

"What are you, some kind of girl?" Sasuke asked, "So I stayed in the room with you. We don't need to discuss it. I was doing my job."

Naruto looked up. The hurt in his eyes was near unbearable.

"You said you cared," Naruto said.

"I never actually said that."

Naruto may have asked Sasuke if he cared but he hadn't answered. Naruto was silent as his hand traveled under the pillow. Sasuke watched but didn't understand. Perhaps it was a comfort thing. He ignored it.

"Even if you said you did," Naruto said, "It would have been a lie, right?"

Sasuke didn't know what to say. It wouldn't have been a lie. Sasuke didn't like lying and he wasn't the type to tell others what they wanted to hear.

Naruto's hand stopped underneath the pillow. It slid back to him as a fist. Sasuke realized what was going on but Naruto moved too quickly. He made way for the exit with a handful of pills.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto before he could run out the door. The two fell over and Naruto scrambled to put the medications in his mouth. Sasuke pinned him down and grabbed his face harshly.

"Spit them out!" he shouted.

Naruto struggled to get his face away, not having swallowed the pills yet. Sasuke put his knees on Naruto arms and grabbed Naruto's top teeth with one hand while the other took a firm grip on his lower jaw. He pulled with all his might, digging his nails in Naruto's flesh.

"Stop it, right now!" Sasuke shouted.

Naruto's locked jaw showed the slight opening and Sasuke quickly moved his hand from Naruto's jaw to his bottom teeth. His arms shook as he tried to pry open Naruto's mouth.

"Damn it, you -idiot!" Sasuke strained, "I won't -lose you!"

Naruto's once clenched eyes widened. Sasuke finally forced Naruto's mouth open enough and grabbed the sides of Naruto's face, making it impossible for Naruto to close his jaws without biting the inside of his cheeks. Sasuke reached his fingers in and dug for the pills, managing to get three. He cast them aside.

"Spit them out, Naruto!" he commanded.

Sasuke no longer looked cool and composed. His hair was in disarray and his eyes looked wild. He was a mixture of anger and panic. Naruto stared at him, asonished, and pushed up a pill with his tongue.

Sasuke was surprised at the offered pill and did with it as he'd done with the others. Naruto then pushed up another, the pill waiting to be plucked as it sat there wedged in Naruto's lips. Sasuke grabbed it and repeated.

Seven pills later, Naruto's mouth was empty of medication. Sasuke, exhausted, forced himself off of Naruto. He sat on the floor, against the bed as the andrenaline began to drain from his body.

Naruto shifted to lay on his side. Sasuke watched him as his heart attempted to return to a normal pace. He could hear nothing but the beat of it in his ears but as it lowered, he could hear Naruto sniffling.

_Damn it..._

"Naruto?" Sasuke called softly.

Naruto laid on his stomach and then pushed himself up. He sat with his entire body faced away from Sasuke. With harsh fist, Naruto wiped away at his face.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked.

_He doesn't deserve this._

Sasuke rolled his eyes and crawled towards the determined blonde. He sat directly behind him. Sasuke could feel Naruto's warmth in front of him. He couldn't help but notice how good the blonde smelled. It wasn't just that he was clean. He had a natural scent to him, sweet and light. It was like...

_That dream...was it a dream?_

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Naruto said quietly, "I should have waited. I'm sorry."

"Shut up," Sasuke said as he put his arms around Naruto.

Sasuke's heart seemed to slow and he almost felt like Naruto's had too. Sasuke no longer cared what was wrong and right between a staff member and patient. Even Sasuke could see that what this poor boy needed at the moment was a hug. Sasuke would never admit it but he felt more than obliged to give it to him. He wanted to give it to him.

"Don't ever do it again," Sasuke said in Naruto's ear.

Naruto didn't move as Sasuke embraced him. Sasuke couldn't help himself. He actually enjoyed the physical contact he was making. It felt good. It felt healthy and right.

"Why?" Naruto whispered.

Sasuke tightened his arms wanting to take Naruto in. Sasuke had stopped thinking at this point and chose to not care about his position as a staff member or his cool deamnor. He'd say and do what he wanted and what meant too.

"Because, you idiot," Sasuke said, "You don't throw away beautiful things."

Naruto relaxed into Sasuke's arms. He put his hands on top of Sasuke's. Sasuke put his face into Naruto's shoulder as he whispered;

"I won't let you."

They stayed quiet for a few minutes and stayed as they were. Sasuke never felt so in place before. Naruto had scared him enough to want to beat sense into him just moments ago but Sasuke had already forgiven him. He was safe now. He was safe in his arms and damn it all he was never going to let the little idiot ever try anything like that ever again.

"You _were_ there," Naruto said suddenly.

Sasuke's arms turned stiff. Slowly, he released Naruto and sat on the bed. What did he mean? Was he talking about group therpay or...that dream world?

"They told us not to say anything," Naruto said before getting up and taking a seat next to Sasuke.

Sasuke was right. Something was going on. As crazy as it was, the staff was trying to trick him out of his memory but for what reason? What could Sasuke possible have done or known in order to be lied to so grandly?

"Did they say why?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto shook his head, his short blonde hair going into a small frenzy.

"We weren't worth giving a reason, I guess."

So Naruto didn't know. Sasuke felt like Naruto was useless in that moment but quickly lamented since Naruto had provided the proof Sasuke needed for himself.

Sasuke was determined to find a reason. He stood up and began making way for the door. Why had they lied to him? What were they trying to do? And why Sasuke?

"Wait," Naruto said.

Sasuke stopped and turned around. Naruto stared at his knees. His cheeks were red. His fingers played at the blanket. All of Sasuke's determination seemed to disappear.

"Don't go," Naruto whispered.

Sasuke hesitated. There were more pressing matters at hand but-

_He still needs me._

Sasuke took a seat next to Naruto again. The bed was small and creaked as Sasuke sat back down. Naruto's fingers fidgeted with his white, cotton blend blanket. Sasuke waited until Naruto finally broke the silence by taking a deep breath.

"I used to live in a small town," Naruto spoke, "where I guess they were unaware that witch hunting was over. My mother died giving birth to me and my father committed suicide a few days later. I guess death runs in the family, huh?" Naruto began.

Sasuke was as silent and emotional as a stone. Naruto gulped and continued.

"Anyway, the town assumed that I was some sort of demon spawn. They gave me to the church to have them cleanse me. They ended up trying to do it all my life."

Still, Sasuke showed no expression. Naruto was telling him some very importnat things and he wanted to listen.

"I loved playing pranks as a kid, I still kind of do, but they didn't appreciate it. They kept saying the demon had come back. I ran away from the church when I was eight but I never left the town."

Sasuke listened as Naruto spilled out his life story. Naruto went through every person and every prejudice. He felt himself hate the world more and more as Naruto recounted every detail. He also felt himself care for Naruto as he realized just how much he'd been through. It frightened Sasuke that he was feeling for another human being but he was paralyzed by his overwhelming sympathy. Eventually, Naruto's story neared the present.

"The visiting business man, Iruka I think," he said, "Thought I'd better be suited to an orphanage in the city but several suicide attempts later, they decided to have me committed."

Sasuke didn't know what to say. What does anybody say after a story like the one Naruto told? The words, 'I'm sorry' came to mind but Sasuke didn't dare to utter them.

"Please," Naruto said, looking at Sasuke, "Don't pity me. Iruka did that and it didn't help."

"I don't pity people," Sasuke snapped, pulling out of his paralysis.

"Good," Naruto replied, "I hate being pitied."

Sasuke turned to his side and stared at Naruto. He was such a strange guy. How was that he always wanted to die and yet he smiled so much? Was it always false?

"Why do you act so happy?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto grinned at him.

"If you smile hard enough," Naruto answered, "People won't worry about you, not that they did in the first place. But at least this way, I make them think I don't need anybody."

Sasuke knew that there was more to it than that. Sasuke had seen him genuinely smile. He knew there were real moments of happiness.

_When he looks at me..._

Naruto smiled at Sasuke.

"Y'know," he said, "I think I figured you out!"

Sasuke felt his eye twitch. He glared coolly at Naruto.

"Oh?"

"Yeah," Naruto continued, "You do care about me!"

Sasuke hid the sudden panic he felt from the statement.

"What makes you think that?"

"You care about me because you won't say that you care about me," Naruto said with confidence, "You won't admit it. Now, I'm not sure if it's because I'm a patient or if it's because we're both boys."

Naruto put a hand on his chin in mock thought. Sasuke, irritated with Naruto being right, grabbed a pillow and hit him with it before turning away.

"Hey!" Naruto shouted.

"I'm tired," Sasuke replied, turning over to lie down "Stop talking already."

There was a beat of silence. The bed creaked as Naruto stood up from the bed. Sasuke heard a few footsteps but chose to ignore it. Naruto sat back down on the bed and then laid down beside Sasuke.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto whispered, "Look at me?"

Sasuke turned his face towards him.

"No, like turn towards me?"

Sasuke grunted but did as he was asked. His breath halted as Naruto looked up at him. The bed was a single and there was very little space between them. They were a little too close for Sasuke's comfort.

Naruto put an arm around Sasuke's torso and pressed his face against Sasuke chest. Again, Sasuke's heart slowed. Naruto looked serene as he closed his eyes, drifting to Sasuke's beat.

"I wish I'd known someone like you, Sasuke," Naruto yawned.

Sasuke was hesitant but eventually he put an arm around Naruto. He knew that he shouldn't have but, whether he wanted to admit it or not, he wanted to. Naruto's warmth and scent came over Sasuke once more providing a sense of comfort. He felt oddly at peace as he cuddled the suicidal blonde. Sasuke wasn't sure what was going on, both between himself and Naruto and the situation with his fainting, but at the moment his didn't care. He felt as if he had something important in his arms and knowing that it was safe there, he started to fall asleep.

**A/N: So I apologize for any typos I may have made. I revised this the other day and I've read it over so many times before that I just could not bring myself to read it again. Nonetheless it is done. And now I want to get my shout outs to my reviewers said and done! **_**HappPlaice**_**: I kind of want you to figure out what's going on but at the same time, I hope to surprise you a little. ;) **_**mooloo95**_**: A bit loony? Brother's got some shit going down! **_**JennyEbs**_**: No pupils means that I have taken their souls and they are now my lifeless puppets! Mwahahaha! ...ha ha? No? Okay, no. That's not what it means. D: Until next time everybody!**


	5. Crimson Defiance

**A/N: And there were many apologies given by Kira for ignoring this story for so long. She dropped to her knees and begged forgiveness from the yaoi guardians of smut and fluff. Her life was spared and so she was able to write this chapter.**

Somehow or another Sasuke had a growth. It was probably the most amazing growth in all of medical history because it while it was attached to him, it didn't always have direct physical contact. It trailed behind him when he walked. What was worse was that if Sasuke got annoyed with said growth and told it to more or less fuck off, it would start circling around him like a moon to a planet.

It was a large growth roughly an inch or two shorter than his entire height. It was unavoidable and there was no hope in ignoring it. This was mostly because it was characterized by an obnoxiously bright, yellow color and on top of that it _talked_. It even had a name.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said, exasperated, "Why don't you go sit down?"

Naruto pouted at Sasuke. Sasuke knew Naruto didn't mean to follow him everywhere. He kind of had to since Sasuke had been put in charge of him. Sasuke didn't understand why but he tried not to question it. Naruto was the only person who he could trust and the closer he could keep him the better.

Still, it didn't make very much sense to Sasuke. How was it that he'd become Naruto's keeper? Was it even protocol to do something like that? Everywhere Sasuke went he was required to take Naruto with him. It was an order from the warden, delivered by Dr. Kabuto.

"You don't have to be so mean about it," Naruto grumbled before sitting down.

Sasuke, somewhat relieved, leaned up against his usual wall. Sai appeared, almost like clockwork and took his unofficial post next to him.

"So," Sai said with mock friendliness, "How's the babysitting going?"

Sasuke glared at Sai. Sasuke could sense the smug satisfaction behind his co-worker's faux grin.

"I'm not babysitting," Sasuke argued, "He's a patient, not a child."

"There's not much of a difference here," Sai pointed out.

Sasuke watched as Kiba approached Naruto. The two sat together, playing with Kiba's imaginary pet. Sasuke couldn't help but feel the irony.

Sasuke glanced back at Sai, who looked somewhat cocky.

"So, how'd you manage to get stuck with him anyway?" Sai asked.

"I don't know," Sasuke admitted, "If anything I thought..."

_You'd think they'd notice..._

"You thought what?" Sai asked, intrigued.

"Nothing," Sasuke said.

Sai stared down Sasuke. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him before watching Naruto again. Naruto was laughing and smiling as he and Kiba played with the figment, Akumaru. Sure, the idea of it all was ludicrous but Naruto still looked-

_Cute,_ Sasuke said flatly to himself.

"Y'know, if you want to have an affair with a patient, you really should be more discreet," Sai said.

Sasuke's head snapped towards Sai.

"What?"

"You heard me," Sai said.

"I'm not having an affair with Naruto," Sasuke tried to deny coolly.

"I never said it was Uzumaki," Sai noted, "But I did assume it was him. After all, I did drag you out of his room and into the break room last night."

Sasuke was speechless.

"Didn't you wonder how it was you woke up somewhere else?" Sai asked.

Sasuke paused. No, he didn't remember waking up somewhere else. He didn't even remember falling asleep with Naruto in the first place until Sai reminded him.

"You don't question very much, do you?" Sai asked, "You're just okay with blanks in your memory?"

_Blanks in my-_

A sharp sound assaulted Sasuke's ears. He doubled over in pain as he covered them. His eyes were winced shut. As he blocked out the noise, he wondered if it was another trick and forced himself to look around. Sai was in a similar position as was most of the staff and patients. Other patients, the more excitable ones, began screaming and throwing crayons and foam blocks. It really was like a playroom but for the mentally disturbed.

Sasuke looked to the entrance, the source of the sound. Hinata was there, her face beat red as she pushed along the comatose Haku in his wheelchair. However, one of the smaller wheels of the chair was missing and the metal prongs that were suppose to hold it were scraping against the hard floor.

Sasuke ran over to Hinata and stopped her just as she managed to drag Haku inside.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke ask, his voice flat and his face in an expression of a man surrounded by idiots.

She cowered at Sasuke. Her face was full of embarrassment as he confronted her. Sasuke could hear Sai in the background, calming some of the more violent patients.

"Well" she struggled, "Ino is b-busy with other p-patients so I-"

"No," Sasuke continued to scold, "Why are you dragging around this wheelchair?"

Hinata turned a shade darker of red and she nervously began to to tap her index fingers together.

"The wheel- it- it broke," she said.

Sasuke glared at her. Was she really this stupid? She couldn't possibly be this stupid. The woman had other lives in her hands.

"I gathered that," Sasuke said, "But why would you drag a broken wheelchair?"

"I-" she said, hiding behind her tapping fingers, "I couldn't find the wheel."

Sasuke sighed and as he did he looked down at Haku. Haku was leaning to one side, like a sack of potatoes sat down off center. His mouth was slightly ajar and his eyes were lifeless. If it wasn't for the quiet breath that slowly came in and out of him, Sasuke would have proclaimed him dead.

As Sasuke looked down, he saw a glint of light from Hinata's pocket. He leaned over and saw the wheel hiding in the white fabric of her uniform. Sasuke, too irritated with her to make her get it herself, reached into the pocket and held out in front of her face.

"Did you check your pockets?" he said as deadpan as ever.

"Oh. Um," Hinata said, a confused look on her face, "so that's where it went."

Sasuke sighed as he got down to look at where the wheel was meant to go. The screws were missing entirely. Parts were required to fix it.

Sasuke got back up and looked at Haku, who stared aimlessly into the distance. There was the matter of removing the patient from the chair first. Hinata stood there mumbling and stuttering away but useless as always.

Sasuke put the wheel in his pants pocket and then picked up Haku bridal style. His dead weight was a little harder to bear than Sasuke would have liked but it was only a mild discomfort. Sasuke would simply sit Haku down somewhere, take the wheelchair and repair it.

Sai put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke looked back and up at him. Sai had the shirt collar of a disgruntled Naruto in his other hand.

"I think you're forgetting something," Sai said to Sasuke.

Sasuke glanced down at Haku and Haku stared up directly at him. Sasuke had intended to leave Haku behind but Haku suddenly looked aware of him. Haku's eyes seemed conscious of Sasuke and it was as if they were trying to tell him something. Sasuke leaned in towards Haku's face, his brow knit together as he tried to understand this odd miracle of sentience.

"Sasuke," Sai called him out of concentration.

Sasuke looked back to the irritated boy Sai held out to him. The question of consciousness would have to wait for a moment. Sasuke would simply need to take his ward and the vegetable if he wanted answers.

"Naruto, carry the wheelchair," Sasuke instructed.

Naruto pouted at Sasuke as he pushed Sai's hand off of himself.

"I'm a patient, I shouldn't be carrying anything," Naruto said.

Sasuke gave Naruto a stern stare.

"Do as you're told, Naru," Sasuke instructed.

"Naru?" Sai asked, feigning delighted interest, "Since when did he become _Naru_?"

Sasuke played it off coolly. Naruto had always been Naru, hadn't he? It wasn't like Sasuke had suddenly called him cupcake or something. Naru was still a part of Naruto's name. It was just shortened for convenience. It was not a pet name or anything. It could never be a pet name. Naruto wasn't a pet.

Hinata's eyes lit up at the name, _Naru_. She stared at Naruto as he grumbled and folded up the wheelchair. Her fingers had stopped tapping and she dropped her hands completely. It was as if Hinata had gotten quieter if that was possible. Sasuke felt very uncomfortable as Hinata's eyes stared at Naruto in some mystified wonder.

_Maybe she likes him_, Sasuke wondered.

Naruto seemed oblivious to it as he tucked the wheelchair under his arm. Sasuke gave him an approving nod and the two took off out the door all while Sasuke felt Hinata's eyes watching them.

Naruto walked behind close to Sasuke. He walked a little too close as the wheelchair kept bumping into Sasuke's back.

"Damn it, Naru!" Sasuke shouted as he turned around.

"Well, I can't help it!" Naruto shouted back.

"You're going to have to!" Sasuke cotinued, "I'm carrying a _person_, remember?"

"I wouldn't have to walk so closely if I knew where I was going!"

"We're going to the supply closet!"

"There is no supply closet!" Naruto countered.

"Of course there is!"

"Well if there is," Naruto ranted, "then try telling me _exactly_ where it is!"

Sasuke tried to think. Where exactly was the supply closet? Sasuke couldn't recall a particular room or corridor. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure what direction he'd been going in. Sasuke had just been walking, convinced that somewhere there was a supply closet.

"I- I don't know," Sasuke answered, "but that's besides the point!"

"Boys," a voice said, "play nice."

It was a beautiful voice resounding in low, feminine tones. It was like hearing the mother people wished they had speak. Sasuke and Naruto stared at each other, confirming that they both heard it. They looked to the sides of them but no one was there. They even looked up towards the ceiling as if to locate the angel who had spoken.

Finally, Sasuke looked into his own arms. Haku stared back at him as intently as ever.

"He- he spoke," Naruto pieced.

Haku's body was lifeless and unmoving but something had stirred in his eyes. Haku's gaze was never ending on Sasuke. It was as if he was trying to get Sasuke to understand something; something deathly important.

"Haku," Sasuke asked, searching the boy's eyes, "Can you hear me?"

Haku blinked.

"Blink again if you can," Sasuke instructed.

Haku's lids seemed deny him the blessing of another blink.

"I know he said that," Naruto began to rant, "because I didn't say it and I know you didn't say it and there's nobody else here so-"

"I know, Naru," Sasuke interrupted, "Hush."

Sasuke looked back down to Haku. He would wait for an answer. He needed something from Haku beyond the push to understand. He needed to know what to understand because if it was so imperative to Sasuke then maybe it could explain the strange things that were going on.

"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto said nervously, "I don't think the wheelchair needs to be fixed anymore..."

Sasuke broke his concentration to look at Naruto. Naruto was examining the wheelchair. He picked it up with both arms and struggled to hold it out to Sasuke. His face was mixture of confusion and panic.

"See? The wheel's...well, you see it, right?" Naruto asked, pleading for a confirmation, "Right?"

Sasuke didn't believe Naruto at first. It was highly likely that Naruto was just looking at another wheel and believed it to be the broken one. Naruto was a little stupid that way.

"Naruto, you're looking at the-"

_Right wheel._

The wheel had been miraculously replaced. Not only replaced but screwed in perfectly as if it had never gone missing in the first place.

"That's impossible," Sasuke said bewildered before taking command, "Set up the chair, Naru."

Naruto was obedient and once the chair was fully expanded, Sasuke carefully placed Haku in it.

"How is this-" Sasuke entered a strange calm panic, "I took the wheel from Hinata. I had in my hand and then.."

Sasuke reached into his pocket and groped for the wheel. His hand discovered nothing but emptiness and fabric.

Sasuke looked at Naruto suspiciously.

"Did you do this?" he asked.

Naruto held up his hands as if Sasuke were carrying a gun and he was coaxing him not to fire it.

"If I did," Naruto answered, "Do you think I'd be this suprised?"

Sasuke quickly turned to Haku. Haku was in his vegetative state as usual but his aura had not quieted in the least. Haku's eyes still stared at Sasuke; locked on him as if he were the only thing in his dark void of a world.

"Did you do this!" Sasuke demanded.

Haku could not answer but continued to stare at Sasuke.

"DID YOU DO THIS!" Sasuke repeated, "Damn you! Why are you looking at me like that! What is it! What do you know! Tell me!"

"S-Sasuke," Naruto tried to calm Sasuke.

"I know you know something!" Sasuke continued to scream at Haku, "What are you trying to tell me? Who are you?"

"Sasuke!" Ino shouted as she appeared around the corner, "What in God's name are you doing?"

Sasuke tore his fury away from Haku as Ino grabbed the wheelchair defensively.

"Is this your way of helping people?" Ino shouted.

"Something is going on here, Ino!" Sasuke shouted at her, "I know something's wrong!"

A look of guilt flashed across Ino's face as she hid behind Haku. Sasuke was almost wordless as he watched Ino's shift from guilt back to defensiveness.

"You know something," Sasuke asked quietly, "Don't you?"

"I-" Ino tried to think of something, "I don't know what to tell you, Sasuke. You need to stop this crazy talk. If Dr. Kabuto or the warden were to hear you they might have you committed or-"

"Or what?"

Ino began to back away slowly, her heels tapping lightly on the floor. Sasuke took a step towards her and repeated his question more firmly.

"Or _what_?"

"Sasuke," Ino said, "I can't do anything to help you. I just work here, okay? Please understand that."

Ino turned around quickly taking Haku with her. She ran down the hall. Sasuke didn't bother to go after her. He knew what would happen if he tried. She'd turn a corner and disappear like she had before. It was pointless. Everything was pointless.

Sasuke turned, his face down and his fists balled, and punched one of the walls with all his might. Naruto jumped back, frightened by the outburst.

Sasuke hit the wall again. Then a third time. A fourth. It felt good. It felt real. Pain was reliable.

Naruto could see the blood coming from Sasuke's knuckles.

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried as he tried to restrain him.

Sasuke didn't even fight Naruto. He slid down feeling defeated and Naruto followed him, embracing his back. Sasuke didn't know what to do. There were holes in his memories. There were things that had happened that didn't happen according to others. Impossibilities had become possible. The world had become madness.

Sasuke held his fists up to his face and examined the blood on his fists. It was a dark crimson red. It was so blatantly contrasting to his pale skin and the white background that Sasuke couldn't take his eyes off of it. The blood defied the world around him. It defied Sasuke himself.

"Tell me everything you know," Sasuke whispered to Naruto.

"...please stop," Naruto whispered back.

Sasuke's eyes grew wide. So Naruto did know something after all.

"I like it here with you," Naruto began, "I like you. All I know is that I like you and that if you don't stop, they'll take you away."

Naruto's hands rested on Sasuke's chest as he held him from behind. Sasuke placed a hand over Naruto's. Sasuke could feel his own heart beating.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "I have to know."

Sasuke could hear Naruto sniffling.

"You don't."

"Tell me!" Sasuke shouted as he turned and grabbed Naruto harshly by the shoulders.

"Stop it!" Naruto cried out, "You're scaring me!"

Naruto had tears down his face which he angrily wiped away. Sasuke took Naruto's hand, gripped it tightly and placed it on his heart.

"I like you too," Sasuke said his eyes locked with Naruto's, "I like you very much."

Naruto smiled softly but tears still rolled down his cheeks. Sasuke couldn't explain what was happening. The scene was so tender, how long had they known each other? Days? Months? Hours? Years? It could have been a lifetime and Sasuke wouldn't know.

"I can't stop, Naru," Sasuke continued, "Something's making me figure this out but I wish I could because I like you too. Very, very much."

The words pulled at every available string in Sasuke's heart. It was true down to the last syllable. Sure, Naruto was annoying and loud. He was difficult and had too much energy but Sasuke liked Naruto for whatever inconceivable reason. He like him so much that-

"Lean closer towards me," Sasuke directed.

Naruto didn't know how to respond but obeyed despite his slight confusion.

Sasuke pressed Naruto's hand even tighter on his chest. Sasuke could feel the pressure start to hurt. Naruto's hand pressed down on his ribs but it still wasn't enough. He wanted Naruto to feel his heart. He wanted him to hear it. It was saying things to Naruto that Sasuke couldn't.

_Buh bump. Buh bump. Buh bump. Buh bump. I love. I love. I love. I love._

"You," Sasuke said before pressing his lips softly against Naruto's.

**A/N: Gosh darn it, fluff! You keep showing up. That is it! The next chapter shall be considerably unfluffy! Yes. Very unfluffy indeed...Reviews please! I know I haven't updated in such a long time, sorry! D:**


	6. Goodbye Cerulean

**A/N: See what happens when you let a story sit for forever and you don't update it? It continues sitting there and then you start forgetting what it was about and then you feel bad and start comparing it to a grandma you left at a bus stop in the rain. Anyway, here is my attempt to resurrect this old biddie.**

Sasuke felt himself stirring from sleep once more and again he felt a sense of warmth around him. It was different than cold a sterility of the asylum. There was warmth everywhere and before Sasuke opened his eyes he knew that he was once more in that ethereal, natural world he'd been in only once before. He woke up slowly with eyes heavy lidded.

Sasuke moved slowly. His back had been resting on the weeping willow, whose cascading leaves and bending branches were just a reach away. They were the purest, brightest green Sasuke had ever seen and he wondered how that was possible. It was like this was entirely new world filtered through a color enhanced lense. It was beauty in its most natural and supernatural state.

Sasuke heard a light shuffle which made him look to the right. There was Naruto again. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful. His mouth was little open and a slightly sloppy breath eased in and out from his lips.

_What is this, a dream?_ Sasuke wondered.

Sasuke turned his entire body toward Naruto. His fingers seemed to gravitate toward the blonde's face and Sasuke allowed them to traverse the small distance to Naruto's scarred cheek.

The scars were fairly light and they resembled whiskers. Looking at them made Sasuke a little sad but at the same time it was just a part of Naruto. Sasuke didn't know how they got there but then he supposed it didn't really matter. The back of Sasuke's index finger carressed the soft flesh and Sasuke felt even more at peace. It was a combination of his surroundings and the fact that Naruto was there thought why the latter eased him he couldn't say.

Suddenly, Naruto stirred from his sleep. His bright blues were revealed under blonde lashes and Naruto's entire face broke into a smile. He half hugged and half tackled Sasuke who took it as best he could while trying to maintain his balance.

"You came back!" Naruto cried.

"Back? What do you mean I came back?" Sasuke asked and he held Naruto's upper arms, trying to keep both himself and Naruto steady.

Naruto pouted out of irritation. It was so childlike of him but Sasuke didn't expect anything less. Naruto was a child and always would be in a sense. It was just a part of his nature.

_...how do I know that?_

"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you?" Naruto said, agitated.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

It was the most clear headed Sasuke had been in a long time and suddenly he found himself asking all these questions.

_Where am I? Why do I know Naruto so well? Why was I working in an asylum before? Why is this Naruto different from asylum Naruto?_

The last one struck him the most. This Naruto was considerably less vulnerable. He looked a little older but there was still an innocence in his eyes. Undoubtedly he was aged more. He looked to be in his mid twenties here where as the Naruto that Sasuke knew was only nineteen or so. Sasuke wondered if his own body looked any different here. He wouldn't put it past this strange environment.

Naruto pulled away from Sasuke. He turned his body away from the brunette. Naruto pushed himself up against the picturesque willow and brought his knees to his chest, an angered disappointment on his features. Sasuke felt a chill from Naruto becoming so cold to him.

"You're not staying this time are you?" Naruto asked, "You're going back again."

Sasuke crawled closer to Naruto. The grass under his knees was soft and cool. Back? Where was back? Was this forward? Was this all a dream? Was it partly a dream? It all felt too real to be a dream.

"I don't know what makes you think I have a say in the matter," Sasuke pointed out.

That much was true. Sasuke didn't seem to have much say in anything that was happening around him. Everything was so turbulent and changing. It suddenly made sense that Sasuke felt at peace here. This was a safe haven. It was a sanctuary.

Naruto leaned in toward Sasuke, a very serious look on his face.

"You mean-" Naruto tried to figure out what he was deducing, "-they're keeping you?"

_They?_ Sasuke thought, his eyes going wide. _What is he talking about? Who's they? How does he know of a 'they'?_

"Who's they?" Sasuke asked, leaning in closer to Naruto.

"Them," Naruto said a sad note on his face, "the people from the asylum."

_Oh God,_ Sasuke thought his eyes growing wider and wider as his mind attempted to retrieve something. It was on the edge, sitting primed and ready for discovery but Sasuke couldn't quiet reach it. Something, some fact or thought or knowledge evaded him by mere milimeters. It was as if the shadow of it was visible but not distinguishable and paper thin steel seperated Sasuke from it.

Sasuke quickly began to feel light headed. He blinked heavy and felt the world start to fizzle out around him. He felt like he was falling asleep again but not the sort of sleep that normal people had. It felt like slipping into an eternal sleep and with each blink Sasuke felt the air in his lungs shrink. Sasuke tried to focus as his sight blacked in and out and all he could see was Naruto panicking.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted, grabbing the other boy.

He was screaming at him so angry and desperate that Sasuke managed to understand as blood filled his ears.

"Sasuke! Don't you dare leave me again! Damn it! Don't you let them keep you! Bastard, you have to try! You have to- for me! I'll wait here, Sasuke! You come back to me!"

Sasuke went straight upright as he reentered the world of all white. As he bolted up, his breath came in sharp pains. His heart felt like it was going to beat right out out of his chest and he clutched hopelessy at it as if trying to keep it inside.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

It was the Naruto Sasuke had come to know over...over whatever span of time he had been here.

"I- I had a dream," Sasuke said as he tried to calm himself.

"It looks like you had a nightmare," Naruto said.

Sasuke took in his surroundings. They were in one of the many hallways and sitting on the floor. The last Sasuke remembered, he was having a break down and Naruto had comforted him. Then Sasuke had told Naruto to lean closer and-

_I kissed him,_ Sasuke realized.

Sasuke looked at Naruto in shock and was expecting some sort of reaction out of the blonde but instead Sasuke just received a pair of wide, scared eyes awaiting for Sasuke to come back to normal.

"Naruto," Sasuke asked, finally reaching a plane of regular breathing, "what happened before I woke up?"

Sasuke was remembering things. He remembered to ask as about them as well. He was finally making progress in bringing some order back to things and he couldn't help but remember the older dream Naruto's voice: _You have to try!_

"Well, you were upset," Naruto said, mapping things out, "about the wheel for the chair. You couldn't find it and then you got angry and then you passed out."

"You're lying," Sasuke said, his voice dark.

Naruto flinched at the tone. He looked a little hurt but at the same time he looked guilty. That infuriated Sasuke and he grabbed Naruto byt the shirt collar.

"Why are you lying to me!" Sasuke demanded.

Why didn't Naruto mention Haku? Why did he nelgect to point out the fact the the wheel had miysteriously vanished? What about Ino? What about Sasuke going in to kiss Naruto? Why ignore all that?

Naruto once again began to tear up but this time he was angry as well. He pushed Sasuke away from him harshly and with bared teeth he shouted at him.

"WHY CAN'T YOU JUST STAY WITH ME?" Naruto cried, his eyes narrowed and his fists balled, "I like you, Sasuke! And I know you like me, I know you really really like me but you're just going to mess up everything again!"

"...again?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto seemed to wake from his fit and he looked like a child fraught with guilt and the shock of getting himself caught. Sasuke felt his heart drop straight to his stomach as he gazed at Naruto's convicted expression. He knew then that Naruto wasn't going to be honest with him. He never had been. He'd just been selfishly trying to keep Sasuke.

Sasuke got up and straighted his uniform a bit. Sasuke attempted not to look at Naruto. He felt like beating the younger boy's face in at this point. How could he do this? How could he have lied to Sasuke especially when Sasuke thought- well felt-

_I was stupid to think I could have feelings for that idiot._ Sasuke thought.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke with big, curious eyes but Sasuke ignored them.

"I'm going to see the warden," Sasuke said flatly.

Naruto immediately scrambled up from the floor and grabbed Sasuke's arm. He held Sasuke back as much as he could. His eyes were shut tight and he shook his head.

"Don't go!" Naruto yelled, desperate and pleading, "Just stay here with me, Sasuke. You and I can run away together. You and me. We'll go live out in the middle of nowhere. I don't care! We forget this whole place."

Sasuke winced his eyes.

_Let's run away,_ said a child's voice in Sasuke's head, _You and me. We can go live out in the woods and forget everyone._

Sasuke shook the voice from his head and returned to the present situation. He violently took back his arm and pushed Naruto off of him.

"If you're not going to help me," Sasuke said, his voice poisonous, "then I don't want anything to do with you."

Sasuke couldn't help but allow the burning hatred he felt come out from his glare. The glare visibly shattered Naruto's heart but Sasuke didn't feel sorry for it. Naruto had deceived him and Sasuke was in no position to be lied to.

Naruto suddenly met Sasuke's glare with equal hatred and it almost suprised Sasuke. Who knew that the blonde could mock Sasuke's anger to clearly. The narrowed brows, the tight mouth; it was like staring into mirror. Sasuke held his glare though and Naruto held his and they stayed like that for a few minutes just staring each other down in mutual fury.

Naruto dropped his gaze first. He turned his violent cerulean eyes toward the floor. Suddenly the anger was a defeated anger. Sasuke felt his gaze lighten but since Naruto wasn't looking at him it didn't matter. The blonde's fists slowly fell out their position. His fingers were limp and tired as if they'd been holding on to something and for dear life at that.

"I tried-" Naruto whsipered, his voice in a rasp, "I tried so hard to make you happy."

Sasuke turned away from Naruto quickly. He couldn't allow himself to absorb that statement. He couldn't fall into the trap of questioning the sentiment. Though as Sasuke began to walk away from Naruto his mouth opened up and from it came an odd statement that even Sasuke didn't understand.

"I know."

**A/N: Yeah, I know it's short but I've got to swing myself back into this fic and you know the saying; baby steps. :) Anyway, if anybody is still freaking reading this old thing do let me know in the reviews and leave a little love.**


	7. Demons In the Dark

**A/N: Aw, all the review love! :D It made my heart all warm and smilee like happy kitten face. Well, I've got some news for everyone who's confused and everyone who wants answers:**

**It's going to get far worse before it gets better. Teehee. But I promise answers will come. Eventually. And I won't abandon this fic for a mini eternity again. I PROMISE.**

**WARNING: Remember that bit in the disclaimer in the first chapter where I mention that there's sexual violence? Well, I meant it and it's hiding in this chapter. Lo siento mis amigos but it had to be done. : (**

Sasuke nearly beat his fist against the warden's door. He was in no mood to attempt patience or manners. He didn't care if this was his supposed 'boss' if Orochimaru even was his boss. Sasuke had serious doubts that he was.

Although if Sasuke wasn't an employee at the aslyum then what was he?

Sasuke's hand dropped from the door as this thought started to come over him. Sasuke felt a sudden sense of fear. If he _wasn't_ an employee than what was he doing in an asylum? Why was everyone keeping secrets from him? Why were people saying that he wasn't seeing things he clearly saw? What was he doing in this God forsaken place?

_I- I'm a- I'm a...a pa-_

Before Sasuke could get his himself to complete the shocking thought the door slowly opened. It almost seemed that instead of light into the room darkness leaked out of it. The dark crawled from the edges of the door frame and Sasuke felt an overwleming sense of terror. It wasn't so much that the dark scared him but it was what was waiting for him in the dark. Sasuke knew somewhere that it was just the warden but he also knew deep down that it wasn't the warden. It wasn't the warden at all.

Sasuke foot took a step forward and his body followed after it. Despite the terror there was a need to travel into the darkness. Sasuke had to know what was going on. He had to understand the world around him and his place it it. He needed that control otherwise he was going to go insane.

_If I'm not already insane_, he thought as he fully entered the room.

The door swung shut behind him but the slam of it didn't make Sasuke jump or flinch. Once the door was shut what little light was present was swallowed in the black. The dark was so thick and suffocating that Sasuke couldn't even see his hand in front of his own face. It was worse than the first time he'd been there if that were possible.

_The first time I -_

Sasuke began to recall his last visit to the warden's office. Darkness. A purple light. Eyes and hands. Heart hurting. Falling down. Orochimaru's face. Someone else's face. Then more darkness.

Sasuke felt the crippling pain of his heart attack him in one severe beat just to remind him of the pain he'd endured. Sasuke doubled over slightly and as he did the little plum latern Sasuke had remembered clicked on, a feebly guide and focal point in the black.

"I want answers," Sasuke said, holding a hand to his chest as if preparing to guard his heart from escape should he have an attack.

Orochimaru's yellow eyes seemed to glow in the dark behind his desk. He looked like a monster; the kind children pictured watching them from the closet or lurking beneath the bed. Those yellowed eyes dimly lit by purple light watched Sasuke intently.

"Things are falling apart, aren't they?"

The voice didn't match the monster. It was softer than Orochimaru's voice and it lacked the signature his. It wasn't the voice of a monster at all but rather a tender, masculine voice that called to Sasuke and hurt his heart in a very different way.

"Who- who are you?" Sasuke asked.

"It makes sense that you'd come to me," the voice continued, as if unaware that Sasuke had said anything, "You always come to me."

The words echoed in Sasuke's hea so much that he began to wonder if the echo was outside of his head. Nothing was making sense anymore but the words coming from the voice made no sense.

"Naruto's not like you and I, Sasuke," the voice continued, "We're different. You understand?"

As the voice spoke, the demon eyes sprouted hands from the abyss. They came into the light and in them was some sort of fabric. Despite all better judgement, Sasuke moved closer toward the monster and his gift.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you, Sasuke," the voice said, becoming softer and quieter.

The clawed fingers held in their loose grip a blanket. It was blue blanket, soft and made of fleece. Sasuke recognized it as his own and his fingers ached to touch it. He neared closer and closer toward the blanket, so intent on the sense of security it made him long for.

"Forgive me," the voice said in not much more than a whisper.

Sasuke noticed that the echo was outside o his head and that the voice he was hearing didn't belong to Orochimaru. It didn't belong to anyone. Sasuke noticed too late that there was tape player sitting on the table and that the voice he was hearing came from it.

The monstrous claws dropped the blanket and lunged ater Sasuke. Sasuke began to thrash around as the arms pulled him into the dark. The guidance of the purple colored light disappeared and all around Sasuke was black.

Sasuke felt himself being grabbed and forced and held. His body was pinned down onto the desk which seemed to have expanded. It was cold and hard to the body but Sasuke's face was shoved into his beloved blanket.

"I love you, Sasuke," the foreign voice spoke.

"Stop it!" Sasuke found himself yelling as if playing a part instead of truly responding, "You're hurting me!"

Sasuke suddenly felt naked. He couldn't explain why or how but he was naked. The floor was even colder than before. There were hands on him. Cold hands. They held Sasuke's struggling body. There were lips at his ear, chapped and dry that kept whispering something he couldn't hear. Everything was muffled and indistinguishable. A strong hand pinned Sasuke's arms above his head at Sasuke's wrists.

Then searing pain. Searing, hot, unimaginable pain. Sasuke screamed so loudly that his throat ached. No human being should be able to scream like that, so loudly but so silently to himself.

The pain went on for what seemed like forever. It thrusted in and out of him causing him to writhe and cry and scream until he couldn't anymore but the pain continued on and Sasuke simply had to surrender to it.

It went on and on. The restricting hands released Sasuke's arms knowing that Sasuke had no fight in him. One hand grabbed Sasuke at the hip and the other grabbed at his hair. The demon's fingers curled into Sasuke's locks tightly. Sasuke almost wished the monster would his hair out just so he could feel something, anything else.

Finally the pain stopped. It slowly rode out to an end and Sasuke laid there in the absence of it. Sasuke's hand moved slowly and grasped the blanket that his face had been hiding in. He brought it up around him, holding the soft fabric closer to him. He began to cry into the fleece, praying that what happened hadn't happened. He wished instead that he were crazy, just crazy and that it hadn't really happened at all.

A hand touched the small of Sasuke's back and he recoiled from the touch. There wasn't a response at first and that sparked enough in Sasuke to emerge from the sanctuary of his blanket. His face came up slowly and he opened his eyes.

Light flooded into his sight. He was back in the all white room. He was still naked though and something was pressed against his face.

"Still afraid of the water, aren't you?" Sai said.

Sasuke looked up at Sai with wide eyes. He felt embarrassment at being naked but felt too sore to cover himself. His entire body ached and even simple movement seemed to take more effort than it should. Sasuke looked down and saw that his blanket had inexplicably turned into a towel.

"It's okay," Sai said, his friendly fake smile plastered across his face, "You did better this time. I've got to say, your progression toward mobility is a bit of a double edged sword though. It's a lot harder to just move you around."

_M-mobility? Progression? What are you talking about? Where's the warden? What's going on? Did that stuff really- I- I don't understand._

Sasuke tried to say all that but his lips didn't move. The words never made it past his mind. They weren't even a hum in his throat.

"Shame that you're still as mute as they come but-" Sai started to help Sasuke up, "-maybe you'll be able to speak one day too."

_I'm not mute!_

The words still stayed stuck on the inside and Sasuke felt panic start to rise. Why couldn't he speak? All this time he'd been able to speak and now nothing? What was going on?

Sasuke put his hands on Sai's chest. He grabbed Sai by the shirt collar and his eyes pleaded for him to hear his thoughts.

_Tell me what's going on! Why are you acting like this? I'm not a mute, God damn it! I'm not!_

Sai gentlyput his hands on Sasuke's. Sai was so good at making people think he gave a shit that it was almost chilling. Sasuke knew the difference. He knew what it was to be cared for and what is was to actually be cared about. Sai's fingers pryed off Sasuke's with false sincerity and Sasuke felt a sudden hopelessness.

"Uchiha," Sai said, looking up and away from Sasuke, "I could use your assistance with Haku."

Sasuke looked in the direction Sai was looking and saw himself standing in the doorway.

_...how?_

The clone gave a nod and approached them. The look on his face was that of apathy coupled with a hate. He didn't care about the world around him and yet he had hate in him. The hate seemed not so much to be directed but perhaps internal. Maybe he cared for nothing but the hatred of himself.

_That's not me._ Sasuke thought as he stared openly at his clone.

Sai and the clone began to dry off and dress Sasuke and Sasuke did nothing to stop them. He was too bewildered, too confused to stop anything. He just kept staring at his other self. He stared and stared to the point that the clone in all his apathy hinted at discomfort.

Each of the other boys took one of Sasuke's hands and they guided him out of the shower room and down the hallway. Eventually they took him to one of the cells, put in a code and unlocked the door. The led Sasuke inside and sat him down on the bed.

"You ever wonder what it is he's thinking?" Sai asked the clone.

The clone simply shrugged. Sai turned to leave and the clone followed suit.

Sasuke's hand shot out and grabbed the clone's sleeve. His eyes pleaded with clone. None of this was right. Why was there another Sasuke? Why was no one freaking out about another Sasuke?

Sai looked as if he wanted to chuckle but instead put a hand on the clone's shoulder.

"Seems Haku wants your company a little longer," Sai pointed out, "I'l leave you to him."

_Haku?! _Sasuke thought.

Sai left the room and the clone looked down at Sasuke. He then sat down next to him. Sasuke began to panic. Why did Sai say Haku? Haku wasn't in the room.

_Afraid of water. Progressed toward mobility. Formly immobile. Mute._

Sasuke was Haku? How could Sasuke be Haku? It didn't make in sense! It hadn't the slightest bearing on any sort of reality. For a moment Sasuke thought he was a patient but he thoguht he was himself a patient not another patient and certainly not Haku.

Sasuke looked down at his hands, the nails were well kept, clean and the figners feminine. He touched his face. His lips were a little plumper than before. It was the hair that had done it though. Long, thick, damp, black locks hung down into Sasuke's vision. He grabbed at them and pulled at them, his panic increasing.

He looked to his clone and the clone's expression shifted from apathy and hate to caring and concern. The expression looked foriegn on the clone Sasuke's face to point that it almost seemed to change it.

Sasuke's clone grabbed the panicking Sasuke and brought him close. He embraced him, pressin Sasuke's face to his chest. He petted at Sasuke's hair and Sasuke could hear the clone humming a tune. It was the same tune that Naruto had hummed on the first day that Sasuke had met him in the asylum. It was a calming tune that came over Sasuke.

What had Sasuke been going through all this time? At this point he could safely assume that he was crazy. There was no other way to explain what he was experiencing. Alternate worlds, disappearing and reappearing objects, lapses in memory, hallucinations. Sasuke didn't even know what was and wasn't real anymore.

Sasuke let the tune continue to calm him. He closed his eyes and melted into his clone's embrace as the clone soothed him with the melody. He eyes were shut and the low, soft sound of the humming voice made everything bad seem to float away.

The hand gave gentle toss to Sasuke's hair. It was so different than the demonic fingers. The gesture was soft and welcomed and Sasuke suddenly had the urge to thank this person, whoever they were. He wanted to thank them or their warmth, for their scent (cleaniness and a hint of lavender) and their song. It all made Sasuke feel safe and Sasuke needed that so desperately that it didn't matter where it came from.

Sasuke opened his eyes and pulled away from his embracer to find that it was Haku. Haku was sitting there with a smile on his face and hsi hands still on Sasuke's shoulders. Sasuke was confused naturally but he tried to figure out some sort of sense to it.

_Haku and I traded bodies. Okay, I'm going to assume that's natural. Ignore the how focus on why. Why..why?_

Sasuke realized something as he looked at Haku. Haku's face was feminine. Sasuke had a similiar fair face but Haku's was softer than his. Haku had never smiled at him before. Hakue had simply gazed at him blankly and remained a statue. Now Haku looked at him, held him and not only that smiled the warmest and most loving smile Sasuke had ever seen.

"You were trying to tell me something, weren't you?" Sasuke asked.

Haku nodded which almost surprised Sasuke. He still wasn't used to Haku's movements which were fluid and graceful. haku reached up to a stray lock of Sasuke's hair and tucked it behind his ear.

_Sasuke, sweetie, you're too handsome to let your face hide behind your hair_, said a voice inside Sasuke's head.

"...mom?" Sasuke said slowly.

Haku gave another nod. This time it was slower and he closed his eyes with the nod. Sasuke elt a dull ache his head and it began to grow sharp. He held his hands to his forehead and Haku began to look worried. Haku morphed slightly, gaining the smallest formations of breasts and losing his barely existent adam's apple.

The pain in Sasuke's head grew even more and he screamed as it grew. Haku changed once more. The breasts disappeared. The hair went into a loose ponytail. Lines appeared starting at the corner of the eye and extending diagonally toward the cheek.

_Itachi._

The world around Sasuke began to shift and merge. The stark white was blurring and shifting into and back from a darkness tinted by green light. Sasuke tried desperately to focus on the white and bring it back back but it continued to evade him.

Sasuke saw the being in front of him change one more time. The hair grew shorter and wild. The eyes took on a redness. It grew into an adult male and Sasuke no longer wanted to to stay in the world of white.

_Uncle Madara..._

There was momentary darkness and in that darkness any number of things could have happened. Sasuke no longer knew where he was or even who he was. He momentarily slipped into a state and place of absolute abyss and anonymity but it was all short lived.

"Welcome back, Sasuke" said Ino's voice, "We've been waiting for you."

**A/N: See? I told you it was going to get more confusing. However, the next chapter will begin to have answers. I promise you this, childrens. I promise you. : | Note mah serious face.**


	8. Black and Green

**A/N: So I broke my promise...I'M SORRY. On the bright side, I did come back and that counts for something? Right? Riiiiiiiight?**

Everything around Sasuke was darkness at first. Blurred darkness tinted with green. He felt his eyes blinking, grasping at some sort of focus he knew he possessed and yet that hazy darkness never escaped his sight. At some point though, somewhere in between indiscriminate eye shutting, his vision began to settle and all he could see, through his long and overgrown bangs, was a wall, with a distant outline of a door. To his right were two computer terminals that barely let the lime colored lights leak into the room. He remembered having heard a voice, Ino's voice, and his breath felt ragged as it swarmed in his chest, readying for a reply.

"Wh-"

"Try to remain calm," Ino's voice responded.

Only it wasn't Ino's voice. It sounded like her but it was mechanical, calculated. The emotions he normally heard were absent and in their place was just a dry, robotic monotone. Sasuke looked down, as if the floor would hold some answers. He was shocked as he realized that floor beneath him was a gaping pit that he remained suspended over. His mind focused on the fact the he was levitating and he became aware of his body's presence; the absence of ground under his naked feet, the feel of a cold metallic arm around his torso also naked, his arms spread and punctured with needles and wires. He felt like screaming, screaming to high hell, but his throat seized up in his panic. He went to thrash and tear away from his bindings but movement was even more impossible than speech.

"Y-y-y-" It was Hinata's voice, just as robotic as Ino's, stuttering like a cracked speak and spell, "-you're heart rate is reaching a critical point. Please attempt to regulate you b-breathing."

Sasuke didn't want to calm down. Why was his body so non responsive Why could he only manage to let out an airy "wh-" and barely at that? Where was he and why was he here?

"My scanners indicate that you are looking for answers," Ino's voice said, "I will give them to you but you will not enjoy them."

"Perhaps you would like the s-s-sedative now instead?"

Sedative? Dear God, what was this place? What hell was this? The air shambling into chest was sharp and painful as if someone had put knives in the spaces of his rib cage Under him, the scent of the pit wafted upwards and he smell urine and feces. He grew sick in his mouth and with the airiest and most pathetic couch he managed the softest vomit in liquid was mostly bile and slowly streamed down his lip, past his neck and down his chest.

"W-we apologize for you chambers not being empty of waste material," Hinata's words strained comfort through their lack of emotions, "most of our services are a-automated but wast material requires a a removal team."

"They visit less frequently now. Most of the human staff have forgotten about you now that you have served their purpose."

Sasuke's mind raced. Staff? Purpose? Why did this sound familiar?

And then, it came back to him.

Flashes of men wearing surgical masks, holding small utensils. Hot needles in his skin. The sounds of the machines being constructed around him. The conversations of cold men, men of science. _He appears comatose. Alive by any means necessary. Imagine, the Matrix brought to life. It's not immoral. Still breathing. Scapal, Rogers._

Sasuke remember watching the flap of forehead fall over his eyes and the crunching break of skull.

_How long?_

"Twenty-five years, seven months, and fourteen days," the computerized Ino replies.

Sasuke had been hospitalized since he was twelve. He remembered that. He remembered being silent, having nothing to say. He remembered gazing at air, not walls or faces, or even the sky. Just air. Doctors, psychiatrists, nurses, they were all puzzled as to why the little boy was such a way so early in life but Sasuke knew even at his tender age. Sasuke gazed because he had nothing to do but gaze, that's what one does when they are going empty and waiting to die, they gaze.

Sasuke looked down to his right arm, barely illuminated by the green from the twin terminals. His veins were blatant through his almost translucent skin. His hands were wrinkled and his flesh, though clearly bordering looking emaciated, was beginning to sag. He must be nearing his elder years.

"You will be fifty one years of age by within the n-next month."

He had been so alive not moments ago. Hadn't he been running down corridors all washed white? Hadn't he been speaking, hadn't he lifted and pulled? Clearly he remembered the tap of his shoes against the tile, the smell of cleaner. And heat. He remembered feeling heat, that of another human body pulled close to him. The feel of blonde hair, of lips pressed against lips.

_Naruto.._

"It is all a simulation," Ino points out, "or perhaps a term better suited ot your understanding would be, dream."

The asylum. All the strange things that happened. The lapses in memory and judgement. It made sense but Sasuke didn't want it to. He didn't want that younger version of himself, his Naruto to be a dream but then for the rest of that nightmare to be real...it would almost be as painful as it not being real.

_But why an asylum? Why would I put myself through that...?_

"You c-chose a dreamscape based off your memories and un-un-understanding."

_Always sick. Always silent. Since I was a little boy. Since I was twelve. __**Twelve. **__Institutionalized eventually because I got tired of waiting. Of gazing. Needed emptiness there and then. Needed to die. Tried. Failed. White walls. White coats. Asylums._

_Yeah, I suppose I would have an understanding of that wouldn't I?_

"You are remembering. Is it necessary that I show you the rest? It is a much faster process to access your memories than explain them to you."

Sasuke mentally nodded, not having the strength to lift his weary head. He let his eyes flutter for a moment. He knew the computer spoke the truth and that he indeed would not like what he was about to see. Something told him not to get pulled to far under, lest he literally relive his past and begin a new dream...or nightmare.

When his eyes opened again, everything was bright, the floor was a print of textile ranging in bright and dark blues. And there was his mother, her legs splayed out in the worst angle, the upper half of her body face down in bathtub.

**A/N: Short chapter is short. And all the fucking sadness is about to ensue. I'm not even kidding. Literally, **_**all**_** the sadness is coming. It's going to answer your questions but it's going to be depressing as shit up in here.**


	9. Black and White

She had told Sasuke to go to his room. The mother of the Uchihah family had just finished running a bath, had it the perfect temperature and Sasuke, at the young age of six or so, had just barely pulled his sweater over his head when his father came into the room.

At six years old Sasuke didn't understand that his father drank or that his father had violent tendencies. He merely knew that Daddy was always angry, always scary and smelled too strong. He didn't know that his mother hid bruises, even cuts on occasion and yes, sometimes burns. He just knew that Daddy would have this look on his face from time to time when he came home at night and Itachi would suddenly swoop in and take Sasuke to play outside even though it was dark. Sasuke didn't mind though because Itachi would carry him on his shoulders and they'd go far a nice little walk out on their wealthy family's strectch of land. He'd teach him about stars and constellations. He tried to teach him how to make a fire once but Sasuke wasn't as quick or proficient about it as Itachi but he swore that one day he would be. One day he'd make fire come right out of his body if he practiced enough and wouldn't Itachi be proud? Maybe even Daddy would be proud but Sasuke tried not to set his hopes too high.

Dad's feet landed in front of the bathroom door, two heavy stones plummeting onto the harsh wood. His was siletn and it made things wrong, all wrong, and the way his face burned red and the way his knuckles curled made him more frightening than he'd ever been. Sasuke looked around for his brother to swoop in like he always did and save him, take him outside and talk to him about the Little Dipper and the craters in the moon but Itachi was gone, late from his study group but then Daddy was home a bit early wasn't he?

His mother, beautiful as she always was, turned and looked at him with those coal colored eyes. Her soft lips spoke in the softest and yet most dire of tones, that one reserved mothers trying to protect their children.

"Go to your room, Sasuke," she said, leaving no room for argument.

Sasuke skirted past his father's legs as quickly as possible, his navy blue sweater clutched tight in his tiny fingers. Sasuke may not have known the details of it but he knew something was wrong. The way Mikoto, his mother, the way she got this look of quiet of her face. The way her chin, dainty and pointed as it was, tried to firm up and be strong was alarming. But the worst of it was what Sasuke caught in the split second as he left the bathroom. Mikoto's eyes, dark and almond shaped, were terrified.

Call it morbid curiousity or a sense of duty but Sasuke did not go up to his room. Instead he waited nearby, just out of sight but close enough to see the shadows. He heard the yelling but the exact words were so distant. There's was something about a lack of gratitude, a lack of third son, a lack of honest love and when questioned about it all Mikoto never answered.

That's when the bigger shadow on the wall seized the smaller. He picked her up and threw her, the shadows disappearing for a second, the sound of a thud and disturbed water.

_If anyone ever hurts you_, Sasuke's mother's voice said in his young mind, _you call 911, okay? And I mean if anyone does, you understand?_

So Sasuke's feet ran to nearest phone, he climbed up on the counter and punched in those magic numbers. His sobs weren't quiet but it didn't compare to the noise coming form the bathroom. The call was all a blur. He told the lady who answered his address which Itachi made him learn by heart. The woman told him to stay on the line and go somewhere safe and Sasuke, in his youth and natural cowardice went running into the closet. He often hid there in games of hide and seek and not once did Itachi find him there, buried under winter coats and hidden behind the vaccuum cleaner.

He stayed like that, his father's long coat over his head for what felt like hours. The sounds kept going on but only ever his father who bellowed and slammed and broke things. The woman on the line, her voice was shaky and trying to soothe Sasuke but he didn't want to ear her voice. He wanted his mother's, tender and sweet or even screaming at this point. He needed so desperately to hear something out of her, anything, from across the way. But she never made a single sound, not even after the water stopped moving, and Dad stopped yelling, after the police broke down the door.

The cops didn't know that Sasuke was inside that closet, he'd hung up on the operator long before she had a chance to ask. It was completely silent, just stray footstep patterns here and there and silently Sasuke snuck out of his hiding place. He crossed the hall, the wooden floor colder than it's ever been to the threshhold of the bathroom, where not that long ago he was going to be bathed and then wrapped up in a warm towel and held by his mom.

There was red on the wall as well as a few holes. Everything that had been on the sink had been knocked over, strewn across the floor. And his mother's legs, the stuck out wrong and yet were limp, her upper body bent over and into the tub. Sasuke ventured closer, saw the bathwater clouded with more red. Mikoto's hands and arms floated along the water, almost like she was making a snow angel face first. Her long ponytail dipped into the tub and then frayed and swirled underneath the water. Sasuke wondered for a moment, if her voice was trapped in that water. He wondered, if he put his head under it, would he hear her?

Sasuke's eyes widened with horror as he came back to the present. He remembered it all so clearly, finding his mother dead. Even if the whole memory came to him in shades of light and shadows. And he remembered her, beautiful and quiet, beaten and yet resilient.

"T-there is more," the terminal that had Hinata's voice broke the relative silence.

_I don't think I can..._

"You will enjoy some of what comes next, you will enjoy remembering him," the other computer added.

_Who?_

"Naruto."

**A/N: And hopefully, that will answer one question. Again, short chapter is short but there is so much to answer that I don't think writing one huge king sized chapter will be all that navigating for you guys.**


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